Reaction
by orangeyhairedimmortal
Summary: Before Scar kills Shou Tucker, the military gets a hold of him and Tucker escapes. After hearing some whereabouts, the Fuhrer sends Mustang and his crew to check it out. But that was eight months ago with no word from them at all. Ed gets a call to go see someone who they found, but a traumatized Breda doesn't seem to be helping. Slight inflation, mpreg!Roy, and chimaera!Fury.
1. Chapter 1

It's been almost eight months since I heard anything from that stupid colonel. From what Falman had told me when I went in to turn in my report eight months ago, the Fuhrer sent Colonel Bastard and his crew off on a mission somewhere in the east. When Nina died by the hands of Scar, the military got to him before he could kill Shou Tucker and so Tucker escaped and ran far away. At first I heard that the military was going to just nudge its nose into the situation enough to keep a look out for suspicious activity. But after a year of hearing nothing on him, the military stopped looking. From what Falman told me, it seems like he just spiked back up on their radar again since Bradley decided to send Mustang to check it out.

Not that I miss that bastard anyway. Who likes to have someone breathing down their neck all the time? Besides, it's been nice not having the deal with his cocky attitude and having to give him reports of what me and Al are doing. It's really none of his damned business what we do, as long as it helps to get our bodies back...

"Brother, if the colonel isn't here then why are we back in Central?" Al asks beside me, his metal body clanking loudly in the hallway.

"I dunno, Al. Probably some stupid conflict in need of fixing that Colonel Bastard should be doing but since he's gone, it's passing down to me. Man, I hate the military stuff of the military..." I say, putting my hands over my head as we walk to the Fuhrer's office.

Al laughs at me a little and we stop at Bradley's door. I knock on it tentatively and I hear a 'come in' from inside. I open the door and the Fuhrer looks up at me from doing paperwork and gives a small smile from under his mustache. His one eye looks us both up and down as we sit in front of him in the two chairs that are in front of his desk.

"You called for us, sir?" I ask.

"Yes, I have. We have heard no word from Colonel Mustang and his men ever since he left for the east. We sent some men to investigate and they brought back someone from his regimen. We think that something might have gone awry but the man won't talk. Afraid for his life and seems to not want to cooperate."

"What does that have to do with us?" I ask.

"We think that seeing a familiar face will allow him to reveal what has happened to Mustang and his men and where we can find them."

"Who was it?" Al asks.

"I believe the name was Lieutenant Breda."

Al and I look at each other and I can feel the worry that surrounds Al's body, his eyes glowing from the helmet of the armor. Breda not talking is almost like Havoc not smoking; it was uncommon.

"I'm sending you both to the East to see if you can talk with him. They didn't want to move him in case he talked. I am sending Falman with you."

"Why do you need us? Why can't you send Hughes or something?"

"Brother!" Al turns to the Fuhrer. "Sorry, sir, Brother didn't drink his milk and so it sometimes makes him cranky."

Bradley only looks at me with that beady eye of his and weaves his fingers together.

"All is well. Lieutenant Colonel Hughes is actually working on a case for me and is very busy. I thought about sending him, since he is very familiar with Mustang's men but I need him here more. He is also investigating some uproars in the East so that leaves you two. Now, you will leave tomorrow morning for the East. Dismissed."

We nod and get up, leaving headquarters.

As we walk, I put my hand under my chin in thought. Just the fact that Breda is not talking is a little suspicious. Breda isn't a busybody but he sure wouldn't keep his mouth shut if his colonel was in danger or Havoc. Him and Havoc are pretty good friends and if nothing else, he'd tell about him...

"Brother?" Al says and I look up at him. "You're worried too, aren't you?"

"It's what he said about Breda... I dunno, it seems a little weird. I wish it was Hughes that was going since he's a lot better at this sort of stuff than me."

"You'd probably kill him because he didn't say anything." Al says with a small laugh on his hollow voice.

I smirk because he knows me so well. I knock on his arm with my knuckle and then stretch a little.

"Well, we'll have a horrible train ride tomorrow, with Falman of all people. I'm going to need some sleep. Let's go back to the inn..."

"Mm."

* * *

The train ride wasn't as bad as my normal ones since we got some strings pulled from Bradley. We got some pretty good seats that actually didn't numb your ass from the long journey and made our way to the East. The scenery changed drastically from city to rolling green hills to desolation. The uprisings still haven't been settled fully and with the whole ordeal with Lior, I was surprised that the Fuhrer would send some of his best into the midst of it but if that sick bastard Tucker was out here then maybe higher military personnel was what was needed. Especially since Mustang could fry him if need be.

The train pulls up at the station and we get out, following Falman to a car that is waiting outside for us. We all get in, Al's armor making the back cramped, and we drive our way to the makeshift hospital that has been set up.

"In the files it says that Breda was injured in only two places and that was on his ankles and wrists, where it looks like he might have been bound tightly. There was rubbed flesh where he must have been trying to escape from his binds. When he was found, he was walking in a daze in one direction and it took a couple of men to get him to get a grip on himself. He finally passed out and has only woken recently."

"When did they find him?" I ask.

"About a week ago. They thought that when he woke up he would tell them where everyone else was and why there was no report but he won't even look at the men. They say he looks in the distance, as if he is in a trance."

I look down, sad to hear that a brilliant guy like Breda was now being reduced to nothing but a blank shell. As much of a ham as he was, the guy was pretty smart. The car pulls up to the tent that is acting as a hospital for now and we all get out.

"Be careful with him. They say he's really skittish." Falman says, opening the flap to the tent. "I will stand guard out here."

I nod and Al walks in with me.

Breda is sitting in a bed, his face staring off into space and his usually cropped orange hair long over his face. The normally portly officer looks skinnier, a lot of his bulk gone and leaving only skin to hang on his haggard body. The doctor is working on something in the corner and looks up at me briefly.

"You the Elrics?" he mumbles.

"Yes. Um... How is he?"

"Vitals are good, just nothing on upstairs." He says, pointing his pen to his own head to show. "We've tried to get him to say something but it's like he's deaf to everyone. Someone suggested sending someone who knows him and I'm guessing that's you and your friend?"

"Well, Hughes would have come but he was really busy..." I say, scratching the back of my neck. "Has he eaten anything? He looks... hungry..."

The doctor looks back up at us and then adjusts his glasses.

"He eats every day, taking in the food like it was normal but the only thing he _does_ do on his own is throw it up later in the evening. It's like he can't stand the taste or something. We haven't figured it out... If you guys can get him to say something then that would be very helpful."

I nod and look at Al. He nods too and we walk over to Breda.

"Hey, Breda... It's us, Ed and Al." I say, not used to displaying bedside manner. "They said you wouldn't talk to anyone so.."

Breda just stares out into space and I sigh, not wanting to push it.

"Ed..." a soft voice says.

I look over and see that Breda's eyes have focused it seems.

"Ed... Al..." he says in almost a whisper.

The doctor gets up quickly and blinks rapidly.

"Amazing! It's like you guys flipped a switch or something."

"All I said was hi..."

"Ed... Al..." Breda repeats.

His eyes look like they are trying to focus on something and he turns his head slightly to me. He blinks slowly and then turns to Al. Al laughs nervously and waves at him.

"Hello, Lieutenant Breda! Long time no see!"

"Al... Ed..." he says, this time looking at us when he says the names.

"That's right! That's us!" Al says, getting happy prematurely as usual.

"Breda, are you there? Can you hear us?" I ask. "Do you know where the others are?"

"Al... Ed... Oth-ers?" he says, looking confused.

"Yes, the colonel and the others." Al says softly.

"Oth-ers... Colo-nel..."

"Agh! He's just repeating what we say!" I yell, grabbing my hair. "We'll never get anything out of him."

"Colonel... Mustang..." I look at him and then at Al. "Colonel Mustang... Hawk-eye... Hav-oc... Fuuuury..." We look at him waiting and he finally turns his head all the way to me. "Gone..."

"Gone? Are they dead?" I ask, a sudden fear and pain ripping through me.

"No. Just gone..."

"What do you mean, Lieutenant?" Al asks.

"Gone..."

"Where are they? Can you tell us where to find them? Or did they leave the place they were? BREDA! You have to help us out here!" I yell, shaking the man.

"Brother!" Al grabs my arms and puts them at my sides. "He won't be able to think at all if you keep shaking him."

"Well if he would speak normally then I wouldn't have to shake him..." I growl to him.

"Tucker." We stop arguing and turn to Breda.

"What was that?"

"Shou Tucker."

I feel the anger in my body blaze at the name and grab Breda by the shoulders again, looking him straight in the eyes.

"Breda, what do you know about Shou Tucker? You have to tell me."

Breda looks vacant for a moment and I fear that I _have_ lost him when the looks me dead in the eyes and I see hatred as deep as my own there.

"He _changed_ them."


	2. Chapter 2

Al and I look at each other, confused beyond reason.

"Changed them? What do you mean? Breda, help us out here." I ask, touching his arm.

He jerks away and looks at me like I'm the one who's crazy.

"He changed them. They are gone."

"But we need to go and _save_ them, Breda. You need to tell us where they are. You have to help us save them all. Mustang, Havoc, Fuery, and Hawkeye; you remember them right?"

Breda looks at me with wide eyes and then they soften as he looks into mine.

"I remember you… Edward Elric."

I keep a groan from erupting from my throat and I sigh, trying to smile and keep calm.

"Yes, Lieutenant, I'm Edward Elric. You know that already. We need to know where everyone else is, your friends and commanding officer. _Please_ quit avoiding the question…" I say, finally groaning to show my frustration.

Al puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Brother, maybe this is too much."

"The metal guy is right. Sometimes too much stimulus can make a patient a little crazier. Maybe if you give him some time-"

"Shou Tucker still has them. He turned them… poor Fuery…"

We look over at Breda and he stands up, walking toward the entrance of the tent.

"I told them I would go back. I will save them…"

"Yes!" I yelped, throwing my hand in the air and standing. "Alright, we've got ourselves a destination. Lead the way, Breda."

"Brother…" Al says with a chuckle on his voice.

We follow Breda as he goes out of the tent and toward the car where Falman is following him.

"What's happened?" he asks, looking a little freaked out by Breda's sudden animation.

"He's leading us to where the others are."

Breda opens the door and climbs in as if nothing is wrong with him and we follow suit, getting in the car. Falman gets in the driver's seat and looks over at Breda.

"Where to?"

"Go." Is all he says.

For once Falman doesn't try to argue and just goes with the flow.

"There." Breda says, pointing.

Falman looks over and turns the car to where Breda is pointing, an old shack coming into view. He parks and gets out along with Breda as he looks at the old shack. He looks back at Al and I and nods slowly, showing us that this is the place. He looks like he is a bit scared to be back but I know that this is the place. This looks like a place that Tucker would conduct horrible experiments or whatever it is he's been doing. From what Breda was saying, it seems like one of the officers may have had a fall in with his chimera experiments. I hope not but with the way Breda is talking, who knows with him…

"It's in there. I remember… I won't go back." Breda says, shying away from the building.

I nod to Al and he looks at Breda.

"It's alright, Lieutenant, you don't have to go there. Brother and I will go see."

We start to go when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn and Breda looks me in the eyes.

"Don't think you're alone."

I nod and turn to Falman. "You need to call for backup just in case we find anything."

He nods and puts his hand on Breda's shoulder.

"Come on, we'll go call for backup."

Breda nods and we turn to the shack. I pull my shoulders back and clap my hands, putting it on my automail and transmuting it into a blade.

"Alright, Al, let's go."

We open the door to the shack and the smell of experimentation hits me like a ton of bricks. I cough at the smells of liquids that has mixed and the crackle of transmutations. The front looks like a normal shack but I know there is a hidden passage somewhere around here. It is the same as when he lived in his old house with Nina and Alexander, so I know there is a secret passageway somewhere.

"Brother, look." I look over at a wall and smile. "Transmutation marks."

"Way to go, Al. Let's just have ourselves a little look see…"

I clap my blade away and clap again to open up the wall. The wall opens and a wretched smell enters my nose. I cough, putting my arm over my mouth and nose as I walk in. I hear coughing and what sounds like choking. I walk in slowly and stop in my tracks.

There on a table, beaten and bruised and shivering was the colonel. He was naked and tied but definitely alive. I breathe in deep and walk closer to the table, Alphonse behind me.

"Is that…"

"Colonel? Colonel, can you hear me?"

Mustang lolls his head a little, his body jumping from the cold of the metal and air. Alphonse makes headway by untying him as I try to get him to answer me.

"Colonel, answer me."

"Do your worst… do your worst to me… Don't hurt them anymore…" he mumbles as he lolls his head toward me.

I untie his arms and turn to Al.

"Go tell Falman that we have found the colonel. I'll stay with him and then we'll go and find the others."

"Right!"

Al runs off and I pull my coat off. I drape it over his naked bottom half and watch over him to make sure he doesn't slip into a coma or something.

"Stop hurting them…" he mumbles again, coughing.

I touch his head and feel the heat from a fever and he is covered in sweat.

"Can you remember me? It's Edward Elric."

Mustang seems to comprehend enough because he looks at me and blinks.

"Fullmetal?" he rasps, looking confused but trying to grasp.

"Yeah, it's me. We've come to rescue you."

"Rescue… my men…"

"We have backup coming."

The sound of multiple footsteps answers my question of whether Falman listened to what I said and called for backup. After the soldiers make sure the colonel is safe, Al comes back with me and we go deeper into the passage.

We come across this room that has a bunch of cages in it and the men behind me begin to spread out. I get halfway down the aisle when I spot an open cage. Transmuting my automail again, I open it and see a shadow ball up in fear. I walk in a little closer.

"Hello? Can you speak?" I ask.

There is no answer for a while and I fear I have just made myself chimera food when a shuffling catches my eye.

"Ed?" a raspy voice says. "Pipsqueak, is that you?"

"WHO YOU CALLING SO SMALL YOU HAVE TO USE A MAGNIFYING GLASS TO SEE ME?!" I growl in response to his comment.

A dark chuckle echoes from the corner of the cage.

"Yeah, it's you…"

A rumbling sound echoes in the cage with me and the man groans. I walk closer and closer and finally see who I am looking at.

"Havoc?"

"Hey…"

"Are you alright? What's wrong?"

"I'm hungry… _extremely_ hungry. I'm too weak to stand, I have a splitting migraine, and I'm skinny as a pole…"

I get down and grab his arm. He's right, he's almost as skinny as when he was at Central. It's like grabbing hold of a skeleton as I help haul him up and out of the cage.

"Man, what I wouldn't give for a cigarette right now…"

"I don't think that's wise right now." I grunt.

Havoc only grunts a response as he concentrates on keeping both of us from falling.

"Is the colonel alright? We could hear him screaming some time ago and then he just stopped."

"He was in the front room tied to a metal table." Another rumble comes from next to me and I look at Havoc. "Man, you must be starved."

"He did something to me, that bastard. I've never been so ravenous in my life. I hope we get that guy…"

"Are the others alright?"

Havoc's bright blue eyes go downcast.

"That guy did some fucked up shit, Chief… Riza is the only one pretty okay, though you won't recognize her when you see her. Then there's Fuery… The colonel is not going to like it. Oh, by the way, did Breda get out?"

"He's the one who helped us get here."

Havoc nods and smiles. "Good job, Heymans… Was he alright?"

"His mind seems to be a little off."

"Probably would be. I didn't hear much of it but Breda saw it happen before his eyes. I don't think he'll ever be the same."

We come upon the other soldiers and Havoc gives me a salute and a smile as the men take him away to help him.

Al comes over to me, his armor shaking.

"What is it, Al?"

He holds up a uniform, dirty and smudged but an Amestrian uniform. The name FUERY etched on the brass nameplate. I narrow my eyes and look up at my brother.

"Where did you get this, Al?"

"From back here. I think something bad has happened to him, Brother."

I narrow my eyes at the blue military uniform and remember that Breda kept saying something about 'poor Fuery' and Havoc just said that Mustang won't like what happened to him.

"Lead me to where you found it." I say to Al.

He nods and goes back down the other hallway to a back room. It's another huge room but instead of cages, it's filled with cells like a prison. Al goes to an open one and points.

"I found the uniform in here."

I nod and go into the cell, looking around for a moment. After a while, I sigh at not finding any clues when something shimmers in my line of sight. I look over and walk toward the makeshift bed. I bend over and grab whatever is reflecting the light. To my horror, I find that they are a pair of round glasses. I gulp and stand back up, looking behind me at Al.

"I think these are Private Fuery's glasses…" I say with a shudder.

Al gasps and I clear my throat to gain some stamina before we venture forward.

"Edward? Alphonse? Is that you that I hear?" a womanly voice says from farther down the row.

"Is that Hawkeye?" I ask.

"I think so… Ms. Hawkeye!? Is that you?!" Al calls.

"Alphonse? Oh, Al, I never thought that I'd ever hear your voice again! We're down here!"

"Are you alright, Lieutenant?!" I ask as I run.

There is silence for a moment. "Let's just say you may not recognize me…"

Worry makes a pit in my stomach and we finally reach the last cell. I clap my hands together and transmute the lock open and open the cell. There in the middle of the floor is a humongous mound of flesh with a head, small arms, and small legs. It was the hugest person I have ever laid eyes on!

"Brother?"

"What the hell is that?" I ask, pointing at the flesh.

The head seems to move and the little arms wave slightly.

"Edward, Alphonse! I'm so glad to hear your voices."

I creep closer and closer until I am almost on it when I realize that there is an animal in the cell on this… _thing's_ lap. The black head looks up, black eyes looking at me and the tail begins to wag just a little.

"Is that you, Ms. Hawkeye?" Al asks tentatively.

"I'm afraid it is, Al. Tucker wanted me useless and so he injected me with something that made me start to get fat every time that I ate. No matter the portion and soon I was unable to move. Fuery stayed with me the whole time but… I know it's not a pretty sight but it's still me."

I look around the cell but I don't see Fuery. If he were here he would have said something.

"Hawkeye, where _is_ Fuery?" I ask.

"Yeah. You said he was in the cell with you…" Al adds.

"Eeeedddd-wwwaaarrrddd…" I hear a mournful and hollow sounding voice echo into the cell say.

My heart stops at the sound and Hawkeye sighs sadly. I look down at her legs with wide eyes and see the animal get up and walk over to me. It grabs my coat in its mouth a little and then looks up at me with hurt and sad eyes.

"Eeeedddd-wwwaaaaarrrddd…." It says, bearing into my soul.

"Tucker fused him… He… He turned him…" Hawkeye says, on the verge of tears. "And poor Breda had to watch it all happen!"

I can do nothing but stare at the creature that used to be Private Kain Fuery.


	3. Chapter 3

The military finally gets everyone out of the facility (Hawkeye with more difficulty) and everyone goes to the hospital. Poor Fuery has to be taken to a veterinarian clinic that is just a couple of blocks away from the hospital. Alphonse says that he will go with them to give Fuery something familiar to look at. He looks really frightened, being in that cage and all, but I think that he is in there. It's weird to look at him just like it was weird to look at Nina. You could see where the private was and then where he wasn't. The same black hair was on his head and down his neck a little, but there was that spiky do that made Fuery, Fuery. Then there was the eyes. He always wore glasses and since he didn't have them he was always squinting at everyone to see. If the occasion hadn't been so bad, it would have been kind of funny.

The colonel and Havoc were taken to the hospital as soon as they were taken from the facility and Breda was taken there as well. Havoc said he might be able to help him with his mind but I don't think that that's going to be possible. If I hadn't seen the horrors of Mother's remains and having to do all I could just to bring back my brother's soul, I would be just like him. I understand his pain and confusion and hurt. To see someone you know turn into something that is kind of them but not is… not good.

Falman puts his hand on my shoulder and I look up.

"We're going to head back to Central. Riza will be taken good care of and we'll get her there."

I look over at the huge clump of flesh that a huge machine is using to move her from the building and frown.

"That's horrible what he's done to her."

"True but luckily, Hawkeye is a very strict person. She will do everything she can to be of use again, especially since the colonel is not in his right mind and harm has come to her men. She does not take this stuff lightly."

I nod, knowing that already and get in a car to go back to Central.

* * *

As I enter into the hospital, I tense up. I hate hospitals. Just the feel of death and the god-like aura they have. They produce birth and reap death like some sort of sick factory and it makes me feel weird every time. But I go up to the nurse's station and ask about the colonel and the others. She directs me to the floor they are on and I head up the elevator.

As I step out, I see that there are a couple of officers guarding a door. I also see Lieutenant Colonel Hughes waiting outside.

"Hey, Lt. Colonel." I say, stopping in front of him. "How is he?"

Hughes looks at me and smiles sadly, his green eyes going downcast; a total opposite of his stupid self that is relentlessly telling me about his family.

"It's not too good. Tucker did a lot of experiments on him. He broke his arm and leg to keep him from moving very much and beat him senseless. He also had to watch Hawkeye… expand, I guess. He had to watch that happen and then he was worried about Breda and heard the screams of Fuery. Nothing really went right. And we know that there were other internal experiments that happened but it was done with such advanced bio-alchemy that the doctors can't find any abnormalities."

I nod and sit beside him, stretching my legs out.

"When can we see him?"

"As soon as they are done with him. In a few moments… Thanks, Ed."

"Eh? For what?" I ask, surprised.

"I wish I could have led that hunt but the Fuhrer had me doing other things. If it hadn't been for you, we would have never found them. Thank you."

I sigh and turn away. "Yeah…"

The door opens and the doctor walks out, looking at a chart with some concern. We look up and he looks over.

"You're Lt. Colonel Hughes?"

"Yes." He says, getting up.

"Says you're his emergency contact after Lt. Riza Hawkeye?"

"Yes… How is he, Doc?"

"Not good. Not good at all. I'll tell you all about it. He can receive visitors." He says to me and I give him a halfhearted wave.

When he is out of sight with Hughes, I get up and walk into the hospital room. Mustang is on his back, looking pitiful and in pain as the tubes go into his arms and nose. I make a face and stop at the foot of the bed. His left arm is in a stint and his leg is elevated in a cast.

"You look like shit, colonel." I say to him, knowing he won't answer.

I sigh again and just hover over him, looking at him. I hope that Tucker didn't do anything too bad to him. Even if I don't like Mustang, getting caught by Tucker is just as much of a threat as getting caught by Scar was. The fact that Tucker knows about bio-alchemy is what is disturbing. He can do so many things and you'd never know it until it hit you one day.

Mustang stirs for a moment and then mumbles, opening his black eyes slightly. I look at him, hoping that I haven't startled him. He only mumbles again and turns his head, sleep taking over him once more. I move closer when he opens his eyes again but this time he stares at me. I stop moving as he stares, black eyes staring at me with lackluster…

"H-hey, Mustang…" I say softly, not wanting to spook him.

He says nothing and just continues to stare right through me as if I don't exist. I sigh, a little happy that he's not staring _at_ me because his eyes are becoming almost too hard to look at. The opening of the door makes me jump and Hughes walks in, raking his fingers through his black hair.

"What did he say?"

"They ran a full diagnostic on him and he's been suffering a lot of afflictions, not just broken bones and scars. Seems that Tucker was using him as a guinea pig on health projects."

"Health projects?"

"Yeah. From what the doctor described it was experiments to help advance bio-alchemy. Things like can alchemy treat serious wounds to organs? Can it help to prevent diseases? Can it create life if there is a host? Things of that nature. They're not quite sure what happened but they can see scarring on some organs and he has the same wounds on his skin. Plus, his mentality is a cause for concern…"

We look at Mustang as he stares off in the direction I had been standing at.

"Will he pull through?"

"They say with therapy and help from his friends that he might be alright. We just have to help him deal with some things… Where's your brother?"

"He went with the other officers to help with Fuery. They wouldn't let him come to the hospital since he's… um…"

"What do you mean?" Hughes asks, his eyes curious.

"They didn't tell you what happened?" I ask, confused.

He knew about the others but why not Fuery.

"They only told me about who was coming here. Is he… is he _dead_?"

I look at the floor, my hands in my pocket and my hands clenching inside of them.

"Tucker fused him together with an animal. I think it was a dog of some sort… just like Nina and his wife…"

Hughes' eyes widen in horror and he takes off his glasses.

"Damn… Damn, damn, dammit! No!" he yells, smacking the wall as hard as he can.

I wince at his frustration and look over at Mustang. I narrow my eyes at him and then gulp as I realize that even though Mustang looks stoic, his eyes are shedding silent tears. He had heard us.

*~*ALPHONSE*~*

The whole time that we head toward the veterinarian's office, Private Fuery is huddled up against my armor, shivering in fear. The shivering rattles the metal but I stay put, knowing that he is very scared. He was scared when they finally coaxed him out of the cell where he and Riza were and only came out after Riza convinced him that everything was alright and when I went in after Brother left. He recognized me instantly and slunk over to my leg to hide. He had let me pick him up and seemed to be trusting only me.

The car stops and Fuery looks up at me. I look down at him and feel like I'm smiling at him but of course, the armor can't move so I hope he understands. When the car doors open, he jumps and skuttles next to me. I hold him close as a soldier opens the door.

"Give him to me." He says harshly.

"I- I think I should do it." I say nervously.

The soldier looks at me for a moment and then moves to let me get out. Fuery looks up at me as I carry him into the vet's office. We come into the place where a doctor is ready to take him away. He whimpers but I look down at him and hope that the smile I want to give reaches him.

"It's alright, I'll be right out here. They are just going to make sure that you're alright. Be good and let them help you." I lean closer to him. "If you do what they say, you'll get out faster." I whisper.

His black tail wags and I let the doctor take him. He sets him on the floor and he trots away, though his tail is between his legs. I walk up to the helper and ask to use her phone to call the hospital in Central. I call and ask for Brother since I know he's there.

"Hello? You called for me?" I hear later, suspicion on his voice.

"Brother, it's me. I'm at the vet's office."

"Oh, okay. How is everything? Are they treating him well?"

"They seem to. I only just got here and they took him back to get examined. I think he really understands everything. I think this is more complex than what Tucker did with Nina and Alexander. It seems so much more… in tune."

"Does he know about himself?"

"I don't think so. But right now he knows me and trusts me. Brother, we _have_ to find a way to save him."

"I dunno, Al… We couldn't even save Nina, what makes you think we can save him?"

"We have to try, Brother!" I say a little too loudly, banging my hand on the counter. "He's our friend and our comrade. Plus, he's Mustang's man… He's been so nice to us and…"

"I know, Al. I want to help too but there's only so much bio-alchemy that we know. Tucker is a master at it, which is why it's so damned perfect. The only thing we can do is study harder…"

"Is everything okay?" I ask, sensing that Ed is not acting himself.

"I'm tired and worn out over all this mess. Can't wait for a good meal and some sleep."

"Is Mustang alright?"

"He's stable. Tucker did a lot of things to him, Al. I'll tell you later when we have more time. They're going to let us see Havoc in a moment so just come to the hospital when they're done with Fuery."

"Alright. See you."

I hang up and then hear a yelp and commotion in the back. I turn as a ticking sound thunders across the floor. I turn and Fuery scurries under the swinging doors and over to me, fear in his eyes.

"Where is he?! Get that dog!" the doctor yells, running out.

"Wait, he's right here… What's going on?"

"We need to do tests on him right away! It's the most amazing dog we've ever seen! It _talks_!"

Fuery shivers behind me and I glare at the doctors. I am about to say something when the soldiers hold up their guns to the doctor and the staff gasp, holding up their hands.

"We were told to come here because you are the best. You are to do your job as a veterinary doctor and we will leave your facility. If we cannot trust you we may have to put this place out of business." The soldier threatens.

The doctor makes a face but sighs and looks over at me.

"We still need to run some X-rays of him. If you don't mind we will take him back and examine him."

"I'm coming with you. He will be calmer if I go with you." I say, walking into the back.

The doctor doesn't make me leave and I carry Fuery to the back.


	4. Chapter 4

*~*EDWARD*~*

I decide to leave Hughes with Mustang and travel down the hospital hallway. After the little talk with Al and the sad look in the colonel's eyes, I don't know how much more of this I can take. Everything is just crumbling apart and I don't know how to fix it. Al said he wanted to try delving into bio-alchemy but even if we start now, there is nothing that we can do to undo what Tucker has done to Fuery. If we had, we would have fixed Nina and Alexander… I furrow my eyebrows and wipe my nose a little, unhappy about the fact that I can't fix anything.

I'm smart, dammit. I should be able to do _something_…

As I head toward the elevator, it opens up without me pressing the button and I see that Havoc is being pushed in a wheelchair with a good looking nurse behind him. He looks up at me and smiles wide.

"Hey, Chief. Where you off to?"

"Nowhere; just needed some fresh air."

"You hear anything about the boss?"

"Yeah. He's not doing too well but the Lt. Colonel knows more about it than I do. He only told me a few things though; I could tell a lot more things happened to him than he let on."

Havoc nods and then looks up at his nurse.

"Thanks, sweetheart, but I can take it from here. We have some business to discuss."

The nurse nods and walks away. Havoc sighs after her, watching her butt I'm sure but he clears his throat and starts pushing the wheelchair along.

"I'd like to see him but I have a feeling that he's going to look a lot worse than what I'm imagining. I haven't seen him in months and just to see him would let me know that he's alright."

"What to mean?" I ask, keeping pace with his rolling.

"Well, as soon as we were all captured, Tucker placed us in various places so that we wouldn't be able to see each other or make secret plans without his knowledge. I have to say, Chief, that crazy bastard was good at what he does. He had gathered info on us before we even knew what hit us. He knew things that we didn't even know and knew secrets we've never told anyone else. The things he did to us were done precisely."

"What does eating have to do with you then? And Lt. Hawkeye getting all…" I can't describe what exactly she was.

"Like I said, he knew stuff even we didn't know. Maybe he knew we could handle what he had in mind or something. He's a sick bastard playing with people like they are toys… He deserves to rot in hell or be killed by Scar."

I only nod, not really wishing anyone to be killed by that guy but understanding his anger.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm going to check on Breda. The doctors brought him in for evaluation but he hasn't been the same. They say he's really stoic and seems to be in another world."

"He was like that anyway. Only when we mentioned the colonel's name did he come to his senses… Why did Tucker let him go?"

"Time. He knew that the military would be looking for us soon enough. Considering that Mustang is a colonel and all, plus we hadn't sent word of anything. That automatically makes the military privy to suspicious activity and so they would begin a search party sooner or later. Tucker messed with Breda's mind and then let him go when he thought it was gone enough for him to have some time. He skipped out after a while… He'd been gone about three days before you came and found us."

I nod, gulping and trying to keep the lump that is developing in my throat from making me lose my cool. The only one really coherent in all of this is Havoc so I have to gather as much information as I can so I can report back to the Fuhrer with news. Sure Hawkeye can talk but I think they were doing something to help her with all that… fat…

I shudder just thinking about what Tucker had done to the lieutenant's body and how unearthly and grotesque it was. It didn't look like Hawkeye at all and yet we knew it was her.

"Here's his room. Maybe having a familiar face will help him recover." Havoc says as he reaches up to open up the door to Lt. Breda's room.

A loud sound rumbles from Havoc's stomach and he moans, doubling over for a moment. He breathes in deeply and just reaches out to grab the handle again.

"What did they say about you?"

"I'm nothing special. They said that all Tucker did was accelerate my metabolism about twenty-five times the normal speed. I just have to eat a lot or I'll get sick like when people don't eat for days. I think I can handle it. I'm only in this wheelchair because I was so weak from those last couple of days in the cells with no food. I'll be up and about in no time."

I nod and he opens the door, rolling himself in. Breda is sleeping with his back propped up, the monitors beeping as he sleeps soundly in his bed. I have to say that it is at least more peaceful than the colonel's. I feel a little bad about leaving him like that but Hughes seemed to want to be with his friend alone and then I had that phone call from Al.

Havoc wheels his chair over and grabs Breda's hand gently, careful of the tube that is delivering fluid to him. From what I have heard from others, Havoc and Breda have been friends forever and so seeing him like this was probably something horrible. He had changed so much from before, all of them had really. No one was the same when we took them out of that place.

Breda stirs and turns, looking down at his hand and Havoc smiles big.

"Hey, Fatty, welcome back to the world. Where ya been?"

He looks at Havoc with a blurry eyes expression but a faint smile touches h is lips but that's all the lieutenant needs to be reassured that if anything, Breda still knew who his friend is.

"You look a little different than before but that's alright. We were talking about maybe eating a little healthier after this trek to get some ladies, right? Well, I can eat anything I want and not gain an ounce so, we have one problem down… And you're looking alright, thinner. The hair has to go though."

I decide that it is best if I leave them alone. I feel a bit useless and sigh as I head down the hallway. Am about to leave but decide to go and see the colonel one last time before I leave. I knock tentatively on the door but no one answers so I just open the door.

He is not asleep like I kind of hope he would be but he is not looking at anything in particular. I walk in and look over his body, wounds and broken bones. Seeing him in this state makes me realize that I have never seen him look so vulnerable. He was always strong and demanding, independent and superior. But now he looks so broken, so unlike himself. I sigh and run my hand through my hair, my bangs bouncing back into their respectful places when I am done. When I look back up at him, I see that he has turned to me as if he wants to say something.

"What is it?" I ask slowly.

He doesn't say anything, just stares at me and I start to get uncomfortable. He just continues to stare at me and I look away from those onyx orbs.

"Colonel, if you're going to say something, please just say it. Stop staring at me like that."

I look out of the corner of my eye and see that there is just a ghost of a smirk on his face as his eyes close. He looks like he is absolutely exhausted about everything. I hope he is alright on the inside.

*~*ALPHONSE*~*

The doctors check on Fuery with the X-rays and he stays still for them, being very good. I know he is scared but like I thought, he is compliant with them now that I am here. They show me the results and point out that some of the bones aren't supposed to be the way they are and medical things I don't understand. What I get from it is that Fuery is a strange dog… because he's not a dog… The doctors are baffled by it but we only ask for the documentation. There is also some scarring and bruising but I don't think the military cares about that.

I let Fuery walk and he stays with me the whole time, keeping pace with me while we walk to the car. As I start to get in the car, a soldier suddenly ties a rope around Fuery and he yelps in surprise, turning to snap at the soldier.

"What are you doing?!"

"He is property of the military and so he is going to be taken to Headquarters to be dealt with accordingly." The soldier says, starting to drag Fuery away.

"Wait! Can't we just figure something about before then?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Elric, but we have our orders. We will be informing Lt. Colonel Hughes of the whereabouts of Sergeant Fuery when he reaches his destination."

I watch them take Fuery away, knowing that if I had my body I would be blanching at them for what they are doing. He is one of them! Why are they treating him like that? I want to help him out but I know that I will hear it from Brother if I get him in trouble.

I thank the driver and walk up the steps to the hospital. I open the door but run straight into Brother.

"Ed! I have to tell you something."

Ed looks up but his face looks pale, tired. I forget my rant and stop in front of him for a moment.

"Brother?"

He doesn't say anything, just stands there with his hands in his pockets, staring at the floor. I am about to say something else when he seems to compose himself and knocks on my armor arm.

"Come on, Al. Let's get out of here. We'll be here more often than not until everyone is out of the hospital, I'm sure." He says, trying to hide the strain in his voice with a sarcastic tone.

I know my brother too well and I know that he is not feeling well. The hospital probably hasn't been the best place of encouragement for our friends. I didn't dare tell him about Fuery now… I follow him and we start walking to a hotel for us to stay the night in.

"Hey, Ed!" we hear from behind.

We turn and see Lt. Colonel Hughes running behind us and Ed makes a face.

"What is it, Lt. Colonel?" he asks.

"I was just going to say that if you didn't want to spend money on hotel fees, Gracia said that it would be just fine if you came and stayed with us. She insisted actually."

I look at Brother and usually he would deny the advances of the Mr. Hughes, even though he has always been really nice to us. But this time, Brother surprises me and nods.

"Are you sure it's no trouble?"

"Not at all. I'll drive you guys there. Wait here and I'll get the car."

Ed nods and Hughes leaves. I look down at him.

"Brother?"

"I want to know what all is wrong with Mustang. I know that there is something that doctor didn't want me to hear and I hope to maybe get him alone and he'll tell me. They are trying to keep it from me because they think I'm a kid. We tried to get our mother back and ended up paying for it like this; we saw Nina's brains splattered against the wall of a room… I think we can handle it."

Even though I know Ed did everything he could, sometimes I wish I had a face that held expressions so that he could see how sad I am. I know he wants to help and be a part of this but it wasn't his fault he had found them the way they were. The only thing we can do is wait… except maybe with Fuery…

Hughes comes around in the car and we get in.

"Gracia is making soup for us. She knows you like stew, Edward, and wanted to make some for the occasion. And she also made apple pie."

"Thanks…" he says with a small smile of gratitude.

Man the food looks so good! I wish I had a mouth to eat it all!

"Is it good, Ed?" I ask.

"Oh, the best! I can't eat another bite but I _want_ to!" he says, sitting back in his seat, his stomach showing from under his shirt.

"Brother…" I say, wishing I can smile.

He yawns, throwing his hands in the air and Elysia giggles at him.

"Big Bwother so funny!" she says, with another fit of giggles.

Ed smiles and we help to do the dishes and then Elysia gets put to bed and Mrs. Hughes gives us some time alone. Once everything is quiet, Mr. Hughes goes quiet and we know that he is going to start talking.

"You both know that this is not going to be easy. On anyone. Mustang's men are trying to recover from traumatic event and we are trying to help. It won't be easy and I hate to put burdens on you two, but I will need your help. Riza and Havoc will be helping too once they are solid on their feet. We have three people who really need our help psychologically. I got a call today from an officer and he told me that Fuery has been taken to a facility and under observation, Breda's mind is still shattered, and the colonel… Mustang is difficult."

"Hughes, what's wrong with him?" Edward asks, getting impatient.

Mr. Hughes takes off his glasses and rubs his face with his hand.

"The doctor said he's suffered a lot of hidden trauma but one this is for sure, Tucker idid/i do something to him. When they x-rayed Roy they found something in his abdomen. They don't know what it is yet, but they have a feeling it's growing. They can't tell right now but… I don't know. He's not really responsive yet so we don't know if it's hurting him or if it's killing him… We're in the dark."

"Mr. Hughes, I don't think that Sergeant Fuery should be kept in that facility." I say, looking at the older man. "He's a human, we know that, and being cooped up like he's a monster will only make things worse I think. He was ireally/i scared at the vet's office. I think he just needs people he knows so he can get stable and then maybe we can think of something…"

"Al thinks if we learn more bio-alchemy we can fix him." Ed says, sounding almost harsh about it.

Mr. Hughes looks at me and puts his glasses back on.

"Is this true, Alphonse?"

"About the bio-alchemy? I'm not certain but there ihas/i to be a way. Equivalent exchange is the first law of alchemy. I see nothing equal with the way Fuery is now. He's more dog than human and he retains human thoughts and emotions… There has to be a way to split the two."

Ed seems not to be keen on this but Mr. Hughes nods.

"You two can have all access to the libraries in Central to host your research. I'll even have Scieszka copy the books from Tucker's personal library for you and you can search in there."

I nod and Ed nods too. We can do this… after all, we're the Elric brothers!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: thanks everyone for the reviews. this is the last prewritten chapter that i have. because of the great response, i am starting it up again. i hope that the chapters coming up are as good as these. and if one of you guys could tell me if there are double spaces between scene skips, that would be wonderful. i put them in but when i check i never see them so... and if they aren't there, some help would be nice .

* * *

*~*MAES*~*

After I talk with the boys, I go to bed and snuggle next to Gracia.

"How did your talk with the boys go?"

"I think there may be something that can be done about Fuery. They say that if they study up on what's called bio-alchemy then they might have a slim shot at it. But I really don't know… Ed thinks it's close to impossible. They know better than most what messing with alchemy can do. I also think that Ed has given up a little, considering they couldn't even save Tucker's daughter and now they have to give their all for Fuery?"

"They are still children, as smart as they seem…" Gracia says with a sigh, holding my hand that is wrapped around her torso. "Give them a bit of time, Maes. Remember, their superiors have just had something traumatic happen to them and they found it. Plus, he and Alphonse seemed to be very close to that little girl. I can understand why Edward is a little apprehensive about helping Fuery. I'm sure Alphonse will make him see the big picture soon."

I nod, snuggling my nose into my wife's soft brown hair.

"Yeah… You're right… Sometimes, Gracia, I wonder if you shouldn't just come to the office with me and be a part of the military. You're so smart…"

Gracia giggles. "Well, I don't think Elysia would be happy about that."

"Yeah. Thank you…"

"You're welcome, sweetheart. Now, go to sleep. I'm sure the Fuhrer will have you doing more paperwork tomorrow and you need to be bright and alert."

I smile and drift off into sleep.

The sound of the phone ringing wakes me up and I groggily turn over to grab the phone.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes here…" I mumble in the receiver.

"Lieutenant Colonel, this is Dr. Chase at Central hospital."

"Oh, hello doctor, is there something wrong?"

"Well… there seems to be a bit of an… an incident."

I wake up and sit up a little, pulling my knee to my body.

"An incident? Like what? Is the colonel alright?"

"He's fine but… In all honesty, sir, it would be a lot easier if you came to the hospital yourself and saw what we were talking about. The colonel isn't in any danger as of yet but it's just hard to explain on the phone."

"Alright. I'll be there shortly. Thank you, doctor."

"We'll be waiting for you sir."

I put the phone up and turn the light on to get my uniform on.

"Maes? What are you doing?"

"Duty calls, honey. I have to go and check on Roy. The hospital called and they said something happened."

"You should probably take Ed with you then."

"Nah, I'll just see what happened. If it's anything serious, I think we can wait for tomorrow to show him. No need to make him worry now."

Gracia nods and turns away from me, sleep catching up to her again. I finish getting my clothes on and head to the hospital.

As I get up the second floor, the nurse meets me and she goes to get the doctor. Dr. Chase walks up to me, his graying hair looking astray.

"Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, thank you for coming."

"You sounded very flustered on the phone, doctor, what's the trouble?"

The doctor still looks a little flustered and he motions for me to follow him.

"When we did the x-rays when the colonel came in, we saw something in his stomach. We've been monitoring him for the time being since he hadn't really been responding to anyone. A couple of hours ago, his blood pressure spiked, sending and alarm to the nurses. When they went to check on him… well, there was something that happened that we can't explain."

I wait for him to explain but he seems determined to show me rather than explain it to me. As soon as we get to Roy's door he looks back at me.

"We don't know what it is yet and we don't know if it will kill him or not… Please be calm."

The last sentence makes my hairs stand up and I walk inside.

Roy is laying sideways, his back to me. The heart monitor is going off at a slightly higher speed than yesterday, which is a good sign to me and I walk over to him. I put my hand on his shoulder and shake him just a little.

"Roy? Hey, you awake?"

I see Roy's eyes flutter open and he moans a little bit.

"Hey, bud, it's me, Maes. Your good ole friend from Central. You awake?"

He turns his head a little to look at me and then tries to turn his whole body. I grab his hand and his shoulder, helping him turn when I see it. If the sheet hadn't moved, I don't think I would have even seen it.

"Oh my god… what _is_ that?"

Where Roy's stomach is, there is a bulge that looks like he is about three months pregnant. It's enough of a bulge to show that it's not normal. Roy looks weak anyway as I turn him over and I don't think he's ready to talk to anyone. But it doesn't keep me from asking.

"Roy, what is that?"

He says nothing as I thought he wouldn't but I get him on his back and look back down at the bulge. I can't understand if it is what I think it is. I mean, I remember when Gracia first told me she was pregnant with Elysia and her stomach started growing. It looked almost exactly like this one now but Roy was a man! For God's sake!

A feel his hand suddenly clench on my uniform and he shivers, seeming ot have a pain go through him. I hold him and he shakes almost violently in my arms.

"Hey, don't go all lax on me, Colonel. We have a lot of work to do and you being like this is not going to help this country."

The door opens and the doctor walks in.

"You… you saw it?" he asks, looking cautiously at Roy as I set him down on his back.

"Yes, I did."

"Do you have any idea what it might be? Something alchemical?"

"I honestly don't know. The only two people that can answer that are the colonel and Tucker. Both of which aren't available right now… How long will he be like this?" I ask, looking at Roy as he drifts back into sleep.

"Who knows how long trauma lasts in different people. I should say that he should be able to walk around within the week with help."

I nod and look back at the thing on his stomach. _What the hell is that thing?_

I get back home and find that Edward and Alphonse are awake, Gracia as well and she is making breakfast.

"Mr. Hughes, what are you doing up so early?" Alphonse says, setting the table and looking at me as I put my coat on the back of my chair.

"I got a call from the hospital and I had to go check up on Roy."

Ed and Al look at each other, apprehensiveness in Ed's eyes.

"I-is he alright?"

"He's fine… well… except that there's something wrong with his stomach. There's something in it and it looks like…" I have to laugh at the preposterous idea and the comparison. "It looks almost like he's pregnant."

"Pregnant?" all three of them say, Gracia looking especially surprised.

"Yes. We don't know exactly what it is but from the outside, that's what it looks like. Like when you were pregnant with Elysia at three months."

"Th-three months?! Maes, he was only rescued _yesterday_!" Gracia says, worry in her voice.

"I know, I know… The doctors are going to work on trying to see what it is but… If it _is_ what I think it is…"

"Lieutenant Colonel, I don't think that's possible. The only way to create a human is with a philosopher's stone. Every one that we've run across has been a fake and can't do anything to that extent." Ed says, his hand to his chin as he thinks. "It must have something to do with bio-alchemy. If it really _is_ a person, then we need to know how he did it. Was the colonel responsive?"

"No… the doctor said it may take a long time before he's ready to talk."

"That's a problem then…"

"Brother?" Alphonse says, sitting down with the pancakes Gracia has made.

"Tucker is very skilled at his sort of alchemy. Just like Mustang is very good at flame alchemy, Tucker's expertise is beyond expectations. In fact, he's almost as good as me and Al. If he didn't have a philosopher's stone, then he must have used something and since he's a bio-alchemist, I bet it had something to do with that. The body… If the colonel could tell us what he saw when it happening, then maybe we can get deeper clues."

"Whenever he gets enough strength, he'll have to be in someone's care. Maybe you boys can look after him a little and get him to talk?" I ask.

Ed looks suddenly frightened and Gracia smiles at him.

"I don't think my husband would ask something like this of you if he didn't have a reason. I think it's because he knows he sometimes smothers. Roy needs someone who is calm and collected, not nagging him all the time." She says in that tone that shows it's fact but she's still playing.

"Yeah. I'll get too excited about him being home and bombard him too much. He needs someone like you, Ed, who is a lot like him. I think he's appreciate it."

"Yeah, sure…" he says, looking at his hands for a moment.

I can see the apprehension on his face so I put my hand on his shoulder and squeeze.

"I know that it's a bit of a daunting task, but until all this stuff if sorted out, I can't really look after him. Plus, I want him to recuperate without distraction. Leaving him to himself will make him feel independent and I know, being a father, that I can't give him that independence. You're a smart kid, Ed, and I know that you'll do what you have to. Plus, I know that it will be right, no matter what."

Ed looks at me, his golden eyes full of renewed determination. He nods his head once.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll make him get well so fast he won't even know it. In fact, he'll never figure out he's sick…" he says with a glint in his eyes.

"Brother, that's mean." Alphonse says with a laugh. He then turns to me. "Mr. Hughes, is there a way to get Sergeant Fuery out of that facility you told us about?"

"We can but he'd have to be taken care of by someone. No one that is close is out of the hospital yet and I think, like you said Al, that it would be best if he stayed with someone he knew. I think Jean is the closest to being released… I dunno… I'll make sure he's safe, Alphonse."

"Mm." he says with a nod.

The sound of tiny footsteps coming into the kitchen catches my ears and I turn to see Elysia with her blanket.

"Mommy, I'm hungry." She says as she rubs her little eyes.

"Daw, is my little honey bear hungwy! Mommy, make food for my little princess!" I say, scooping her up and she giggles.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: so this is the chapter where i rebooted the story. i really hope that it lives up to the other chapters!

oh and ed and al are what? 13/14 at this point in FMA history so they would notice a good sized pair of boobs if it was all out shown to them haha!

* * *

*~*ALPHONSE*~*

The Lt. Colonel gets some information of Fuery's whereabouts and I decide to take Brother with me to go and see him. At first he doesn't want to but when I ask if he'd like to go see the Colonel or anyone else, he shies away from the idea, leaving it to Lt. Colonel Hughes. We take a car to a small lab somewhere on military grounds.

"How was he last time you saw him?" Brother asks, looking out the window with a distant expression.

"He was scared and confused. Not really getting what was going on but he knew who I was and felt so secure with me. I really think putting him with someone he knows will help him… Brother?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah…"

"Is everything alright?"

Brother smiles but it doesn't reach his eyes.

"Yeah, of course, Al. What makes you think everything's inot/i alright?"

"You just seem… distant."

"I'm thinking about what Hughes said… about taking care of the Colonel and all…"

"Oh."

Even though Ed is smart, he was never good with being comforting. He is harsh when he tries to be helpful and people take it wrong a lot. If Rose hadn't have read between Brother's words, she could have taken him very wrong. But the Colonel doesn't need that sort of treatment. He needed someone who would try to empathize with him… And Ed isn't good with that sometimes.

I can understand why he is so unhappy with the idea. He hates our father for running out on us, leaving us with Mom to take care of us. But the Colonel is the only grown up that Ed has ever really liked. Sure, he calls him a bastard all the time and hates it when he is hovering and making fun of him, but he really does like the Colonel. Seeing him so unlike himself just has him on edge.

"Well what do you think?" he says, turning his head at me.

"I think that if the Colonel really needs our help, we should help him. He's done a lot for us, giving us missions that help us as well as the military but… I kind of think Mr. Hughes is right. He _does_ seem to go overboard."

Brother laughs, putting his hand on his forehead.

"Yeah, that guy is over the top sometimes. I don't see how his wife can stand it."

"Mrs. Hughes loves him, that's why." I say with a laugh.

Ed laughs again and I'm glad that he is loosening up. The car pulls into the lab and we get out, looking around the dingy looking place.

"This is horrible." I say, looking around.

"Yeah."

"Right this way Elrics. I'm Nanao Nubizoka…" a young girl says with a small bow.

For a young girl her bosom is quite large and Ed blushes immensely because her bow exposes the cleavage. If I wasn't a suit of armor, I would be doing the same thing but I turn away, still feeling like a pervert. Havoc would be happy to see her.

"Sergeant Fuery is doing very well since he was brought here yesterday. The experimentation has been going excellent."

"Experimentation?!" Ed says, grabbing Ms. Nanao by the arm and turning her around. "What do you mean?"

She looks at us with big blue eyes, her glasses on the end of her nose.

"Didn't you know? That's why they brought him here. He was to be looked after as well as examined thoroughly. There are some amazing-"

Brother threw his hand up to stop her from speaking.

"If you utter one more word, I don't think I'll be able to stop myself." He says, looking down at the ground.

Ms. Nanao only nods with a scared look and turns her back on us. Ed clenches his fists and I fear as well what she means.

*~*EDWARD*~*

They experimented on him! Their own personnel! He was turned because of the military anyway…

"Here we are. Sergeant Fuery is in the middle cage. He doesn't say much of anything… Mostly repeats and keeps to the back of the cage but the experimentations on him to figure out his makeup has led to some very interestined questions and has answered some things as well. I'm sorry to say that you don't have the authority to look into the files though." Nanao says with a push of her glasses up her nose. "Don't take any of the experiments out of the cages."

She leaves and I look up at Al. He knows what Fuery looks like a little better than me so I follow him and we go up to the cages. I thought it would be hard to figure out who Fuery is but as soon as we walk up to the cages, all the other chimaeras and experiments start to yell and scream but Fuery only huddles in the corner of his little cage and looks up with sad eyes. When he sees Al and I though, his tail begins to wag and he goes up to the opening.

"Eeeed-waaaaarddddd! Aaaaaallllll!" he says in that moanful tone but there is joy on it.

"Hey, Fuery." Al says, sticking his finger in the cage.

He gets a hold of the top of Fuery's head and scratches it. His leg starts to thump rapidly and Al chuckles. He turns to me and a smile catches in his eyes.

"Eeeeddd-wwwaaarrdd…"

"Hey, Fuery…" I say and pet him as well.

I look around quickly and then lean close up to the cage.

"Did they hurt you?" I ask.

Fuery turns his head. "Huuuurt?"

"Pain?"

"Pain…?" The thinks for a moment and then gives a small nod. "Pain…."

"We're going to get you out of here but you have to help us, okay?"

"Hoooommmeee?" he says with a hopeful look.

"Brother! No… We can do it easier if we call Mr. Hughes. We'll tell him what they've done."

"But Al-"

"He'll do it, Brother, you know he will. For the Colonel."

"Cooooloneeel…" he says, his tail wagging rapidly.

I sigh but Al is right. Sometimes things go easier if we use the communications of the military. If we tell Hughes about this, he will definitely get Fuery out of here and maybe he can have access to those files.

"Alright… we'll do it your way… We'll be right back, Fuery."

I walk over to where some other scientists are studying something.

"Excuse me, do you have a phone here?"

"Not inside the building. There is a pay phone outside of the lab if you need to call out." One of them tells me.

"I'll go call Hughes. If there's no clearance, you know what to do."

"Brother…"

I walk outside and find the pay phone.

*~*MAES*~*

As I fill out the reports on Roy's men and him, my secretary tells me there is a call for me. I go pick up the phone.

"Lt. Colonel Hughes speaking?"

"This is Edward Elric, calling from a lab on the outskirts of a military base."

"Oh, hey, Ed. What can I do for ya?"

"Well, first of all, this lab is a mess. I mean a real mess. Second of all, the girl at the gate told me that they were doing experiments on Fuery. What the hell is all that about Lt. Colonel?!"

"Hm…" I say, rubbing my chin. "I was told he was sent there for testing and that was it. What do you mean by experimentation?"

"They won't let me know because I don't have the clearance. That was my other question. Do you think you could get the files from here? They say that they got some answers but…"

"I'll get right on that. I'll look into it for the clearance level and I will transfer Fuery-"

"I think it would be easier if you just let him come with us, ya know? We're already here and if you just send somebody-"

"I can't just do that, Ed. It would be nice but this is a military thing. Not just my division so I'll have to ask the Fuhrer about a transfer."

"Damn it…"

"Believe me, if it is as bad as you say, I want him out of there too. I will try to do that as fast as I can. Lots of paperwork to do and all. My break is soon so I'll go visit everyone at the hospital. Anything you want me to say?"

"Yeah, tell Havoc there's a girl here that he'd really like. It's just his type."

"Anything to… to Roy?"

"I'll talk to you later."

The phone goes dead and I sigh. I know that it's hard to see Roy looking the way he does but for Ed it must be different. Those boys don't have a parental figure in their lives. The only constant they have is Roy, who is nothing like a father, but he's always been there for them. Other than myself, whom they hardly have contact with, Roy is the next best thing to a father that they have. Seeing that conceited, self righteous fool so weak is hard to see even for me. It was hard enough after Ishbal but now?

I don on my military jacket and head to the hospital.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: learn some more about how everyone got into that tucker situation and the like. should be picking up soon, i hope.

review and enjoy

* * *

I walk into the hospital and decide to go and see how Hawkeye is doing. The last I had heard of her was not very pleasant. I hadn't seen her yet and she could probably tell me some things that happened. Hawkeye was very good at remembering the details and she would have been the most sane person to get information from, besides Havoc. I walk up to the door and knock softly.

"Come in…" someone says from inside and I open it.

I walk into the room and listen to the beeps of the machinery. I don't know what I'm going to see so I brace myself and walk further in. To my shock, I see a very obese woman sitting in the bed, a gown barely covering her large frame. She turns and smiles softly.

"Hello, Lt. Colonel, it's good to see you finally."

"Riza?"

"In the flesh."

My mouth twitches to smile but I pull up at a chair and take her hand.

"What did that sick bastard do to you, Lieutenant…?"

"The lesser off all the evils he did to the rest of the group, that's for sure. I am not deterred by this, Maes; exercise, perseverance, and will power will get me to where I need to be quickly. Tucker knew that I would be able to handle it and that I'd figure out how to fix myself quickly. He just wanted me out of the way of experimenting on the rest of them…"

"What happened in there, Lieutenant? How did you all get caught?"

"We had heard from a village a little ways off that there had been some dogs and cats going missing and there were strange noises coming from an abandoned warehouse just outside the outskirts of the village. The villagers said it was the ghosts of the men who died in the fire that took the warehouse but the Colonel knew that it was probably the mournful cries of mixed animals. We found the warehouse and he put posts on all sides.

"The Colonel and I took the front and he kicked the door down, my pistol in hand and his fingers ready to strike. But there was nothing inside. We searched and searched but there was nothing so we called the rest of the men in to help us out. That was our mistake for thinking that Tucker wouldn't be watching us for soon the door closed and the warehouse filled with gas. We all lost consciousness and when we awoke we were all chained to a wall."

"So he moved you from the warehouse to the place where Ed and Al found you."

"I assume so. The gas was pretty powerful so none of us woke up until we were inside. We had no idea where we were so the first thing we did was try to get loose. The door opened and Tucker came in; he had taken all of our weapons, including the Colonel's gloves, and destroyed our communications system. He then told us that he was going to experiment on each and every one of us until we told him where Ed was."

"Ed? Why did he want Edward?"

"He beat him senseless and then Scar killed his daughter and dog. He blames Edward for letting his experiment get killed and having to rush to find something better than his other assessment. He blames Ed for everything that's happened. He wants to use Ed in one of his experiments…"

"Shit…"

"He separated the Colonel from us but in a place where he could see everything that ever happened. Then he injected me with some sort of serum and I began to expand until I couldn't move. Colonel was begging, ipleading/i for him to just use him instead of us; he wanted everything done to him but Tucker didn't let him. He wanted him to watch and wait. He knew things about us that we didn't know about ourselves but everything he did to us, he did because he knew that we would be able to handle it to a degree.

"He made the Colonel watch me start to gain weight, not able to get rid of it no matter what. Then, he made Breda watch as Fuery turned into a dog, using his fear of dogs to make him go insane. I had to watch as Fuery lost his mind… Havoc was being used for some thing and then the Colonel… No one knew what was happening to him. We could hear him pleading and screaming and then sometimes we couldn't hear him at all. It was all… daunting…"

I nod and take my glasses off, rubbing my face and kneading my temples.

"I'm sorry that you all had to go through with this… I just got word from Ed that the facility they sent Fuery to some sort of lab and instead of just testing him they have been experimenting on him."

"iWhat/i?!"

"I'm going to talk to the Fuhrer and ask about a transfer and then get someone to take care of him that he knows. Al said that he would be able to get back to normal better if he was with people he knew and loved, not experimented on and prodded."

"I agree… Whenever I get out of here, if the Fuhrer allows it, I'll take him in."

"Good. I'll tell him we already have a plan. That might make it easier for the transfer. Has Havoc come to see you?"

"I heard that he tried to come but they were doing testing on me and he was denied. I wish that I was able to see the Colonel… How is he, Maes?"

"Not good. He's out of it and… and there's something in his stomach."

"What do you mean?"

"There's something in his stomach. It's… growing. We don't know what it is yet but as of now it's not hurting him. He's non-responsive but he understands everything we say."

Hawkeye sighs, looking away. "Tucker told us that he would save the worst experiment he had for Roy… I thought that changing him into a chimera would be the worst thing but when he did it to Fuery, I knew that there was more to come."

"I see…"

"Will you tell him 'hey' for me?"

"Of course."

I get up and leave but meet Havoc outside the door.

"Hey, Lt. Colonel, she's allowed to have visitors now?" he asks, looking up from the wheelchair.

"Yeah; she asked about you."

He smiles and I go to see Roy.

I knock on the door and open it up. A nurse looks up from doing blood pressure on Roy and smiles.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Hughes."

"Afternoon; how is he?"

"He's pretty good today. He's quite fidgety." She says with a smile.

"Anything new with the uh…" I point to my stomach.

She shakes her head. "No, no growth."

I nod and go over to Roy. His eyes are open but I can tell he's not really looking at anything. I sit next to him and grab his hand.

"Oh… Roy… There's so many things I wish you could tell me. Ed and the rest of your men are all worried about you. Can you believe that? Edward Elric, worried about this lazy, good for nothing Colonel? I know you said nothing to compromise Edward and you are to be commended for that but I wish you would wake up… Say something…"

I kiss his hand and squeeze it. I lean up and brush his bangs from his forehead when Roy suddenly turns his gaze to me.

"Roy?"

He blinks a couple of times but he soon falls into the same trance as before. I sigh and then look at the bump where his stomach is. iWhat the hell is that thing…?/i


	8. Chapter 8

~*~EDWARD~*~

Al and I talk to Fuery a little longer, letting him know that we are going to save him, in more ways than one, and then we leave to head back to Central. As we leave the building, a man bows to us.

"Come back again, Edward Elric…" he says.

We nod but then I get this weird chill and turn back around but the guy is gone.

"Brother?"

"Did you get a weird feeling around that guy?"

"The one who just told us goodbye?"

"No, he didn't say that. He just said 'come back', like he was expecting us."

"Well, with the way you acted, I'm sure everyone knows you're coming back soon."

I make a face but maybe Al is right… I iwas/i pretty vehement...

We get into the military car and head back to Central.

"Do you want to go to the hospital and visit? We can tell Havoc about the nice girl we saw and maybe Mr. Hughes will be there… See the Colonel?"

I flinch at the mention of Mustang. That haughty bastard wasn't supposed to be in the hospital… He was supposed to be sleeping behind mounds of paperwork or shirking duties to talk about that ridiculous miniskirt ordeal. I didn't want to see him…

"Brother?" I look back up at Al. "Does that seem like a good idea?"

"The hospital visits?"

"Yeah."

"Uh… sure, if that's what you want."

Al's eyes glow a little brighter and I can feel in my heart that he's happy. Al is all about helping people and smoothing things over. I wish I was like that sometimes but if we were both like that, I'd be trying to save every damned cat in the world like he does. But I guess that's the innocence that reminds me that I have to get his body back and that he's still human. He may not have expressions on his face or be able to feel touch, but his words and his deeds are far more human than me or anyone else.

I lean my head on the window and slowly drift to sleep.

* * *

_No! He's my only little brother! Give him back! Give him back! GIVE ME BACK MY BROTHER!_

"Brother?"

I gasp awake and look over at Al as he looks at me, concern in those glowing eyes of the armor.

"Are you alright? You were grunting in your sleep like you were having a nightmare."

"Nothing much… A huge bottle of milk was chasing me…"

Al chuckles. "If only you'd just drink it…"

"It's disgusting. Like watered down chalk or something. Bleh!"

Al just laughs again and we get out, being left in front of the hospital. I knock on Al's armor and throw my hands into my pockets.

"Come on, let's get this done and over with…"

"Mm."

We walk in and I ask what floor everyone is on. I decide to get the good out of the way and go to visit Havoc first. He was the closest to mending so it seems.

We get to his door and knock, an answer letting us know we are invited. As we turn the corner Havoc smiles at us.

"Hey, Chief, how's it been?"

"Good…"

"Mr. Havoc, we saw a girl that you'd like." Al says almost immediately.

"Really? Is she curvy? Double D?" he says in excitement.

"Well, she's looked like this." Al says, making a shape with his hands that made Havoc's nose almost bleed. "I didn't get a good look at the other, heh, heh…" he says in nervousness.

Havoc just laughs and turns to me.

"Hughes told me you went to see Fuery. How is he?"

"He doesn't know what's happened to him, which is good I guess. He isn't very cognizant of things. He still talks and recognizes people but it takes him a minute to understand you if you don't talk to him like a dog. His vitals seemed okay but they wouldn't let us access his files so Hughes is going to get us clearance."

"I see… It was horrible to hear him turning, screaming and crying… I can still hear those twisted screams and pleas from both him and the Colonel. I know that Tucker made Heymans watch because of his fear of dogs but he made the Colonel watch too, just to show that he was in control. He knew that the Colonel couldn't get away from it since he was tied up and he made damned sure that Mustang watched everyone get experimented on until he was the last one."

I don't know why he was telling me about it; I didn't need to hear about that bastard's sick twisted ways.

"I saw the Colonel earlier today… I've never seen him look like that. He was so unlike himself, drained and stoic. I miss his moot discussions of miniskirts in the military and talking women with him. Seeing him like that just reminds me of when we were there in that shack and he was yelling and screaming, agony in his voice." He shudders. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be talking to you boys about this… They say that if I keep up my appetite and everything, I can leave the hospital in a couple of days. But that means that I have to go back to work and fill out a report."

I smile a little but I can't keep myself from thinking about what he said about the Colonel. What did he suffer? The only thing I have seen is that whatever you call it in his stomach but they said that there were some other things wrong as well but…

A nurse comes in and we leave. Al says he wants to go see Hawkeye but I'm not ready to see her yet. I know that I won't be able to keep my expression from being obvious and I'm sure she gets enough of that. Talking to Al, who has nothing to show, will be a relief. I lean on the wall that is just down the way from Al and look up at the door beside me. MUSTANG is what reads on the placard for who is inside. I look around for a moment and then run my hand through my hair.

I open the door and walk in slowly, trying not to make a sound. The Colonel is asleep, looking peaceful. I am about to leave when I hear the heart monitor start to beep faster than normal. I turn and walk over to see what it is that has made his heart start to race. He is asleep but his eyes are moving rapidly under his eyelids, a nightmare obviously ensuing in his brain. His mouth is moving, like he's mumbling and I bring my face closer to his to see if I can hear him when his eyes shoot open.

I gasp and start to call backward but catch myself and Mustang watches me with wide, feared eyes. Then he seems to recoil and his gaze goes blank again, his body settling and the heart monitor going back to normal. I walk back over to him and wave my hand in front of his face to see if he has a reaction.

Not a blink.

I frown at him and look around the room a little. I see a suitcase in the corner and decide to be a little nosy. It's mostly just white T-shirts and pants but I happen to find a white flame glove in the side lining. _Prepared for everything, Colonel Bastard?_ I think to myself as I slip it on my flesh hand. It's too big, of course, but it's a very ingenious idea. It would be a pain in the ass to have to draw it all the time and since he couldn't just clap his hands like me, this was the next best thing. Plus, he didn't do regular alchemy so this was the only symbol for flame…

I shrug and set the glove back in his suitcase and turn to see him looking at me. Not just stoically either. He is staring at me with the smallest of smallest smiles.

"You were watching me, weren't you?" He doesn't do anything. "Pervert."

"Hm…" I hear.

I turn to him quickly and watch him again. He doesn't seem to be in that stoic manner he was in before and I walk closer to the bed.

"Colonel?"

His eyes turn to me and catch my gaze.

~*~ALPHONSE~*~

Unlike Ed, I need to hear what was going on. I had to know what Mr. Tucker did to them and why. For the sake of Nina and Alexander, I had to understand what he was thinking. When I visit Lieutenant Hawkeye, she is a lot smaller than when I first saw her and she tells me a lot of things.

"Alphonse, promise me." She says, putting her hand on my metal arm. "You _can't_ tell Ed. If you do, he'll put the burden on himself and think everything was his fault."

"I know… Brother likes to be selfish…"

"I'm sure Maes is doing everything he can to understand what happened and I hear Havoc will be getting out soon. He'll most likely work on Breda and as soon as I get to a more pleasant figure, I'll be helping as well. We won't let him go without a fight… By the way, I told Maes that if he gets permission to take Fuery out, I will be taking care of him instead of you guys. I have Black Hayate he can play and Havoc will probably have to take care of Breda for a while…"

"That's great! I know Sergeant Fuery will be so happy!"

"How was he?"

"Unaware of himself but perky. He doesn't understand that he's being treated poorly but knows us and will definitely do better with someone he knows."

"Do you think you and Ed can get him back to normal?"

I hang my head. "I think if we study into bio-alchemy, especially Mr. Tucker's, we can get some sort of grasp on it. Plus, his medical records and stuff that they did to him in the labs will be _really_ helpful. But that last time we dabbled in bio-alchemy, Brother lost his arm and leg and I lost my body. We're a little scared to try again…"

"That's understandable."

"Hey, Al!" Ed says, coming into the room.

"Yes, Brother?"

"The Colonel just responded to me!"

"He did?" Hawkeye asks.

"Yeah! It wasn't a word but he wasn't all glazed and stuff. Hughes will be happy to know."

"Where are you guys staying?"

"We were staying with Mr. Hughes for now."

"If you go to the office, in Roy's drawer there is a spare key to his apartment. Take that and you boys can go live there for the time being. It will be a while before he goes back home but…"

"We can't just do that." I say.

"Yea, where's the fun of breaking-and-entering?" Ed says with a shrug of his shoulders nonchalantly.

I elbow him slightly and he gives me a look.

"Anyhow, it's free and Roy will be going there whenever he leaves the hospital and good reminders of normal may help him open up."

"Can I ask a question, Hawkeye?" Ed says looking at her.

"Yes, Edward?"

"If Colonel Bastard actually _did_ become the Fuhrer and got the notion passed, would you wear the miniskirt uniform?"

We all laugh and for just a little bit, it feels like old times again.

* * *

A/N: just a bit of humor for the otherwise always bleak and angsty time haha. hope you all have enjoyed it. i love the reviews so keep them coming. your happiness and enthusiasm sperns the story onward


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry for lack of updates. I had a friend over for like a week and I can't type on stuff when i have company so.. yeah.. anyhow this should tickle your fancies and jolly your hollies.

* * *

~*~EDWARD~*~

Al and I walk into Central Headquarters and head for Mustang's office to get the key to his apartment out of his drawer. I really don't want to stay in his apartment when he's not there but it's a roof over our heads and now we don't have to feel like we're mooching off of Hughes and his family. We've lived pretty nomadically ever since we left Resembool so it makes no difference to us. Just as we are about to leave the office, Hughes walks in and looks up at us.

"Hey, Ed, what are you doing here?"

"We visited Hawkeye the other day and she told us to get the Colonel's spare key and stay at his place."

Hughes' green eyes look at me sadly.

"You don't want to stay with us anymore?"

"It's not that we don't appreciate your company, Mr. Hughes!" Al says, getting overly flustered as usual when he thinks he's hurt someone's feelings. "Honest, we loved staying with you."

"Hawkeye just said that whenever the Colonel's released, he's going to go back home and since we'll have to take care of him anyway, she said it would be best if we did it in his own home." I say with a casual shrug. "I honestly don't want to go there."

"I see… Well, I talked with the Fuhrer about moving Fuery and he said that it would be permitted but he's not going to take him out of the facility until there is someone to care for him. From what the hospital staff said last I called, they said that Havoc will be released within the next few days and after he fills out paperwork, we'll see if he'll take care of Fuery until Hawkeye is available."

"Good. He'll be better off with them."

"I also was able to get the clearance you needed to access those documents on Sergeant Fuery but they won't be coming in until he is transferred. It's been ordered that all documentation will be transferred to my office once the papers are signed for his release. Oh, and I have something for you."

He motions for us to follow him and takes us to his office where Sheska is furiously copying down some documents. She pulls her head up and pushes her glasses up.

"Oh, good morning Mr. Elric and Mr. Elric…"

"Hey, Sheska."

"Morning, Ms. Sheska." Al says, giving her a bow.

"Sheska, can you please find the key to storage so that I can get the materials that the boys need."

"Yes sir." She says with a salute.

She walks to another room in the office and Hughes turns back to me.

"You said that if you could study Tucker's research then you might be able to help Fuery out, right? Well, I got his personal documents that he was using for assessments and chimera development. It should help you, right?"

"It's no guarantee but having some insight into his crazy mind and what his bio-alchemy can do will definitely be helpful." I say, fingering the key in my pocket.

"Have you gone to see Roy yet?"

"A couple of times… He looked at me the other day."

"He always does that."

"No, he _really_ looked at me. In the eyes without any glazed expression. He was in there and he was watching me."

Hughes looks at me for a long moment and then puts his hand on his hip.

"You mean to tell me that he's been conscious now for almost two days and not a person called me?"

"I… I thought the hospital would have called you?" I say with a nervous laugh.

"Maybe he hasn't really woken up enough for them to notice, Lieutenant Colonel…" Al says with a nervous laugh as well.

We can both tell that Hughes is really pissed for not knowing about the awakening of his friend but Al is right; I only got eye contact but they may not be looking for that and they may be taking his staring for the same staring as before.

"I'll just go visit him today and see if what you boys say is true. It may have just been a whole in his consciousness or something… Either way, all the information is in here and Sheska will give you everything that you need and if you need access to any other sources, just tell me and I'll see if I have clearance for it."

I nod and Sheska comes back with a cart full of books.

"These aren't all the books but Central will only let you look at a cartful of books at a time. Every book has been documented by Sheska and so she knows which ones have been pulled from Tucker's personal library. You have access to all of them but you have to switch them out like a library if you want more than a cartful."

"Is this really allowed, Lieutenant Colonel?" I ask, looking at some of the books that we had looked at when we were looking in Tucker's actual library.

"Like I said, as long as you do it right. I'll call you a cab around and they will take you to Roy's place."

"Thank you, Mr. Hughes!" Al says with a bow of appreciation.

"No problem, Alphonse. I have to get back to work so I'll see you both later."

I wave and Al pushes the cart toward the street.

The cab drops us off in front of the Colonel's apartment and I look up at Al. I've never been to his apartment so I don't know what to expect. If it's anything like his office, then he probably has trash everywhere and papers spread out all over the place. The guy is pretty messy; I never understood how he got all those women he claims he got.

I pull out the key and put it into the lock, turning it and opening the door. The musky smell of a sitting house hits my nose first and I reach for a light. Ironically, it turns on and I look around the living room area of his apartment. To my surprise, everything looks pretty organized and in its place.

"His house is much cleaner than his office, huh, Brother?" Al says, looking down at me.

I nod and walk more inside, dragging my suitcase with me. The kitchen isn't stocked much to my anger, but I guess when you have as many assignments as the Colonel, you don't keep much in the house. Kind of like this last assignment, how would he know the length of an assignment given to him? I look around a little more and find a bathroom behind the living room under the stairs and then I start to ascend the stairs. I stop though and decide against it.

"Brother?" he asks, setting the book down on the coffee table. "You don't want to go upstairs and find your room?"

"Nah, I don't want to sleep in that stupid Colonel's bed. I might catch something… I'll just sleep on the couch or something."

"Well, you know Brother, he worked a lot of late nights. I'm sure when he got home he didn't have any strength to climb the stairs and most likely slept on the couch too."

I frown at Al but as I think about it, he iis/i right. I sigh and start to ascend the stairs again, looking at the two doors at the end of the stairwell. I pick the one in front of me and find that it is a bedroom. I turn the lamp on that is on the stand next to the door and am surprised again to find this room pretty clean. Then again, if what Al says is true, then he probably wouldn't even step foot in here very often. I throw my suitcase on top of the dresser that is next to the opening to the bathroom and begin to snoop about.

I find all of the Colonel's shirts in the closet hanging up along with his pants and am again surprised at his organizational skills. Maybe he has been right all along and he's jut messy at the office because when he gets close to the end he gets more work to do. There is a telephone on the nightstand next to the Colonel's bed and I nod, happy that it is there and in reach.

I go back downstairs and meet Al on the way up.

"Why don't you take a nap, Brother? We have all of these books to carefully look through and we need to be at our best."

I look at the cart of books longingly, wanting to get this over quickly, but Al's right. I'm tired and I guarantee that we will have to visit everyone in the hospital again (per Al) tonight so I might as well get some shut eye.

~*~HAVOC~*~

I haven't had a cigarette in ages and I don't know whether to be happy or sad about it. It kept me busy and made me look cool to the ladies… not that I ever got any but it made me feel good. But ever since we all got captured by Tucker, I haven't been able to smoke and even though I look down at the carton of cigarettes that I had Hughes bring over, I don't know what I want. The fact that I went so cold turkey with them made me not crave them as much but I still have a small inkling. I sigh and look over at Breda, who is still staring at the wall in silence. That bastard screwed up his mind badly…

"Ya know, Heymans, you know that things are bad when your pastime is now a controversial subject for your brain." I say out loud, like the doctors told me to do.

They say that by talking to Breda out loud as if I were conducting a full conversation, it might make him feel better about talking. So far, he hasn't stopped staring at that damned wall. I decide to indulge in my craving and light up a cigarette right in the middle to the hospital. I cough, not used to the smoke yet, and then blow out.

"I saw the Colonel yesterday." I say nonchalantly and hold my head back.

"Colonel?" I hear softly and snap my head up quickly.

"Breda?"

"Mustang…" he says, seeming to be looking elsewhere.

"Yes! Yes, Colonel Mustang!"

"Dog… Dog… Fuery… Colonel…" he says suddenly, his eyes going wide and I can tell he is about to have some sort of attack.

I get up out of my wheelchair and grab him quickly, putting the cigarette out quickly and rocking with Breda.

"Shh, shh… It's alright… Calm down… Don't get too excited, alright?"

"Fuery…"

"He's fine. He's safe and he's fine, I promise you."

"Dog…" he whispered into my ear with the most primal fear I'd ever been able to experience.

"Don't worry… He won't be for long. The Chief and Al are going to fix him and we'll get him back."

The door opens and a nurse walks in with a clipboard.

"We saw his vitals spiking, is he alright?"

"He had a flashback…"

"Were you smoking in here, Mr. Havoc?" the nurse says, putting her hands on her hips.

"Just a little. I was just getting back into an old habit…"

"A _bad_ old habit. It's time for Mr. Breda's bath and so we will need you to please leave the room."

"Sure thing." I look at Breda and rub his shoulders for comfort. "Ms. Chemis is going to give you a bath now, Heymans. Don't get too kinky with her, ya hear?"

As I suspect, Breda makes no movement and I sigh, walking out of the room. I finally got out of that wheelchair and was able to walk around. After some paperwork for me to sign, I'll probably be out of here by tomorrow and back to work soon… the first of the group to get back to normal. Of course, I will never be the normal guy I was before. The doctor said that my vitals were fine as long as I always had something to eat within my grasp. It has to be something that will kind of stay with me like breads… I am about to pass the Colonel's room when the doctor runs out in what looks like a frenzy and I stop to look at him. He is breathing heavily and looks like he has just lost his mind.

"Hey, doc, you okay? Colonel wake up and set your ass on fire?" I say with a chuckle.

The doctor looks at me and then his eyes go wide and he lurches toward me. I step back, instinctively trying to reach for a gun that isn't at my side and he grabs my arm.

"It… it has a heartbeat… It's _alive_!"

"Well of course he's alive-"

"Not him… Th-th-the _thing_ in him! It's _alive_ and _moving_!"

"Okay, calm down Doctor… Just show me what you mean."

The doctor literally drags me into the Colonel's room.

Despite the confusing situation, I get a good look at the Colonel and am happy to see him looking at me with a flicker of recognition and awareness of his surroundings. I smile at him and almost jump for joy when a small twitch of his lips indicate a smile back.

"There." The doctor says, pointing to the Colonel's stomach. "In there…"

"Huh?" I say, looking at his bulging stomach.

I had been warned about it but I try not to look too shocked at the small dome. The Colonel seems insecure and I see his hands fumble to try and cover it up with the sheets. The doctor grabs them and makes his stomach be visible to me.

"No! Listen…" he says, taking his stethoscope from his neck and putting them in my hands. "Put it on his stomach and _listen_."

I look at the Colonel as he stares at me but I do as the doctor says and I put the end of the stethoscope on Mustang's stomach. I hear the gurgling sounds of the stomach when I hear something else. I focus on the sound and shiver when I hear it.

_Thump, thump; thump, thump_


	10. Chapter 10

~*~MAES~*~

It's been about three weeks since we found Roy and the rest of his soldiers. Havoc was discharged and that enabled Fuery to be put in his care until Hawkeye is at a better weight to handle things on her own. Breda is still in the hospital suffering from trauma and Havoc visits often. Roy is slowly but surely getting better and more strength to him and the doctors say that he will be able to get out by the end of the week.

"Did you hear that? You'll be out of this place by the end of the week."

Roy looks at me and the ghost of a smile appeared on his lips but nothing more. He doesn't show much emotion anymore and it is hard to talk with him. He understands everything but he seems to drift away into his own world after a while. He also doesn't like to be touched. He only allows the doctors to do it because he knows they are helping him but other than that, he doesn't want anyone touching him.

"Ed and Al are living it up in your apartment since they've been waiting for you to get there." Roy turns his head. "Ed and Al are there, waiting to take care of you."

Roy's eyebrows furrow a little and he looks at me in question.

"What? Is there something wrong?"

He looks away but I can tell something is bothering him.

"Roy, what is it?"

He doesn't look at me again and I pull the chair up closer to him, looking at him.

"Roy, tell me what's wrong. You act like I've done something."

Roy looks at me and points slowly at me.

"You." He says softly. He points to himself. "Me…"

I narrow my eyes, trying to translate what little words he has given me when it dawns on me.

"You want to know why I'm not caring for you?"

He nods and I run my fingers through my hair, taking off my glasses.

"I figured that you needed people who were not going to smother you to death. Ed and Al will take good care of you and if you need me you can just call, right?"

He still doesn't look pleased but he nods and the doctor comes in to do some tests. I put my glasses back on and reach out to pat Roy on the shoulder. Roy flinches away and I remember that he doesn't like to be touched.

"Sorry…"

He nods, knowing that it's hard for me not to touch him. That's my problem, or so Gracia says, is that I'm too buddy-buddy with everyone. I like to touch and pick and get into people's business. Roy doesn't need that now…

I leave and go check on Hawkeye, who I see is coming back from walking around the hospital.

"Hey, Hawkeye, who's it coming?"

"Good. They say I should be able to go home next week if I drop more pounds."

"That's wonderful."

"How's the Colonel?"

"He will be discharged by the end of the week. Have you seen him?"

"Admittedly not. Mostly because I haven't been able to but also because I'm sort of afraid to. I've heard lots of rumors and I don't want to see them."

"He'd like it if you'd see him. You iare/i his closest subordinate."

"True… I might see him after this check up then."

I nod and leave the hospital.

~*~RIZA~*~

The doctor checks my pulse and sees how much I weigh.

"Well, Ms. Hawkeye, you've dropped another ten pounds since this morning. If you get this much off every day then you can leave this week. Your determination is very good."

"Thank you. Hard training is nothing new to me so I don't have any qualms about doing all of this."

The doctor nods and I look at the charts.

"Doctor, how is Colonel Mustang?"

He looks at me and smiles.

"Ms. Hawkeye, you should know doctor/patient confidentiality rules."

"I meant is he alright?"

He looks away and sighs.

"He's as well as anyone in his condition could be."

He leaves the room and I sigh, wanting to see him but not at the same time. Hughes is right though… I get up and head over to his room.

I open the door and find that the Colonel is in the middle of eating. Not much, but he's poking at things at least. When he hears the door open he looks up and stares at me. I look at him for a moment and enter the room fully, going toward him. I might have lost a lot of fat since I was captured, but I am not the same size I was when I was captured.

"Colonel."

He nods and looks at me while I sit next to him. We sit there in silence as I try to figure out what to say to him. What could I say to him? There isn't that much that I could bring up and most of the news I have came from Hughes so that means that he already told the Colonel about it.

The Colonel pushes his tray away and puts his hand on his stomach, moving around uncomfortably.

"Are you in pain?" I ask.

He shakes his head and turns onto his side, settling into the pillows. He stares at me for a moment, just looking at me and then looks away like he is ashamed. I look at myself and sigh.

"It was not your fault, Colonel. This could have happened to any of us in different ways. It was his fault for doing it and we put the blame solely on him. You were doing your duty and we followed."

He doesn't seem convinced so I go to put my hand on his when he wrenches it away.

"Don't touch me." He growls.

I blink and he gives me an apologetic stare. I nod, understanding his territory and just pat the bed next to him.

"We _will_ find him, Colonel, and when we do, we will kill that son of a bitch. I'll kill him myself for what he's done to you and to Fuery."

A small ghost of a smile hinted his lips and I smiled back, happy to see he was still there.

"Stay strong, Colonel. We'll fight this together."

He nods slowly and I can see he is very tired. His eyes shut and I get up to leave.

"Hawkeye…" I hear softly behind me.

I turn as he waves sleepily goodbye.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: i think that in the FMA universe, fuery found black hayate a little later than this but for here, riza has black hayate okay?

* * *

~*~ALPHONSE~*~

Brother paces along the floor in front of the Colonel's door, waiting for his arrival. Mr. Hughes called us early in the morning and told us that the Colonel would be dismissed this afternoon and so we have gotten everything ready for his return to his house. Brother just gets impatient and has been a little out of sorts as of late. He's been reading Mr. Tucker's personal research and it has taken a big toll on him. At one point, I heard him throw up from how bad it was.

I hear a car door slam and Brother stops pacing. He is nervous about having to care for the Colonel. He's not good with that sort of thing…

"Well, Al…" he says softly, looking at me in discomfort.

I can't smile but I hope the vibe I give off is one of comfort.

The door opens and Mr. Hughes sticks his head in first.

"You boys in there?"

"Yes, sir." I say, standing. "Do you need help?"

"No, I'm fine, Alphonse."

He backs into the house, pulling the Colonel in a wheelchair. Colonel Mustang looks around his house a little and then his eyes settle on Brother. His eyes wander toward the bulging midsection that the Colonel has but quickly looks back up. The Colonel is staring at Ed in a venomous way and I look at Mr. Hughes.

"Can he walk?" I ask.

"He'll need help up the steps but other than that, he can do things on his own. Do _not_ let him try and go up and down those steps by himself." He says, looking at Colonel Mustang with a stern look. "I'll ask these boys if you have."

The Colonel gives a quirky smile to Mr. Hughes as he looks at us.

"May I talk to you boys outside for a moment? Roy, I'm sure they stocked up on food so see if you can find something."

The Colonel seems to ignore him and we walk outside with Mr. Hughes.

"What was with that cold stare?" Ed asks, looking at Mr. Hughes. "I thought he was going to use his Flame Alchemy with his eyes for a moment there."

"Roy knows that the condition of his team has probably made it all around headquarters one way or another. His situation especially is degrading to him. He is very touchy in both figurative and literal. He doesn't like ot be touched unless he feels he needs it. I don't think Al will be a problem, but more you, Ed."

"Me?"

"He doesn't like it when flesh touches him and he's mad that I'm not taking care of him."

"See, I told you it would be better…"

"I believe it will be better with you. If not, then I will take him in."

Brother and I look at each other and Ed sighs.

"Will he stare at me all the time like that? I mean, I can't help looking at it sometimes…"

"Just try and keep your eyes where they should be and everything should be fine. Just don't touch him with permission and things should be alright."

Ed nods and then looks at me. "Speaking of, would you mind going to the store and getting some food for us? We ate the last of the Colonel's stuff this morning."

"Okay."

I run off toward the market for Brother.

~*~EDWARD~*~

Hughes rustles my hair and smiles. "You'll be fine, Ed. I know you will. Don't let him intimidate you. He's pretty much the same except he's less about talk and more about making people uncomfortable."

"He doesn't talk?"

"He can but I don't think he talks much. The doctors say he strained his vocal chords from yelling so often in the lab when things happened that he needs to rest his voice."

"I see… Lt. Colonel, will he be alright with us?"

Hughes kneels down, making me feel like an ant on the ground, but looks up into my eyes.

"Edward, I trust his life in your hands. You and Al can do it. I know you can and like I said, if you need help or something, just call."

I nod and he salutes, leaving me to deal with that ill bastard. Like he wasn't enough when he was well… I sigh and open the door. I find the Colonel trying to grab something from one of the cabinets, stretching as well as he can. I walk over to him and push him down. He turns to me with a menacing look and I throw my hands up in surrender.

"Sorry… What is it you're trying to get?"

He looks up at the cabinets and sighs, pointing. He's pointing at the coffee pot.

"You want some coffee? But it's in the middle of the afternoon…"

He just stares at me and I grumble, getting it down and showing him that there's nothing in it.

"We don't drink coffee."

He motions for a pad and pen and I get him one.

_You realize you're still my subordinate, right?_

I lift an eyebrow. "I saved your sorry ass and you're pulling rank on me already? How low, Colonel…"

_Not in the mood, Fullmetal._ he shows with an angry glare.

"What? Pregnancy not your forte?"

The Colonel looks down a little and I realize I was too brusque. This is why I shouldn't handle people…

"I'm sorry… I shouldn't have said that. I'm sure it's not easy for you… Just tell me what you want?"

The Colonel slowly writes on the paper.

_I just want coffee…_

I nod. "Alright…"

I find the coffee grinds and then look at the pot. I look at the Colonel, who is eyeing me with a playful look because the bastard knows I can't make coffee.

"You're a jerk." I say, handing the coffee grinds to him.

He smirks and slowly gets up from the wheelchair. I tense, ready to grab him if he starts to fall but he steadies himself and walks slowly over to the sink to fill the pot and makes his own coffee.

"Are you allowed to walk around?" He nods. "What's it like?"

He turns but I look away quickly because I didn't mean to say it out loud for him to hear me. I mess with my sleeves to distract myself from him but when I look up I see that he is looking at me still.

"I didn't mean to say it out loud. I was just wondering…"

"Weird." I look up and he smiles softly. "Weird…"

The Colonel's coffee gets done and he pours himself a cup, smelling it deeply. He walks to the table and sits down slowly, starting to write on the paper I gave him. I sit across from him, watching him as he writes and drinks sips of his coffee. If he didn't look so worn and the setting was different, I would swear that I was in his office watching him work with a pile of papers on one side and his cup on the other.

He looks up and scoots the paper over to me, pulling the cup to his other hand so he could lift it with both hands. I look at what he's written down.

_This is my house so please don't think you're the boss of me. I may be in this strange mess but I'm still your superior. Coffee should be brewed every morning since I won't be going into work for a while until my condition improves and I want to help you get Fuery back to normal. My brain is fine._

I look at him and he is looking at me in that cool manner he always has that makes me just want to smack him in the head. I almost feel good about that because that means he's okay… anything is better than that blank stare he had at the hospital.

"Brother, Colonel, I'm home!" Al says from the front door.

I go and help him bring in groceries.

~*~RIZA~*~

I get discharged from the hospital a couple days after the Colonel does and get a phone call that I am to report to Central Headquarters as soon as possible. My uniform doesn't fit and neither do most of my other clothes so I plan on wearing the Colonel's spare that he keeps whenever he stays at work overnight and doesn't go home, sleeping in the closet. I convince the hospital to let me wear the top and bottoms they gave me as I hail a cab.

Once at Headquarters, I quickly go to our office but find Havoc there.

"Lieutenant…" he says, saluting me.

"Havoc…" I say with a salute back. "I need to um… borrow the Colonel's uniform…"

"Have at it. Were you asked to come here too?"

"Yes… You?"

"Yeah…"

"How's Fuery?"

"He's doing well. He is pretty quiet most of the time. Him and Black Hayate play a lot together."

"That's good."

Havoc was taking care of my dog for me until I got out of the hospital. Funny how Sergeant Fuery was the one to find Black Hayate and now is his best friend… I slip into the Colonel's uniform and find that it is a perfect fit for my size now. A little big in places but presentable enough to go in front of the Fuhrer. I walk out and Havoc follows me toward the Fuhrer's office.

I knock on the door and we hear someone beckon us in. The Fuhrer looks up and smiles at us.

"Thank you both for coming on such short notice. Please, have a seat."

We take the two seats in front of his desk and he steeples his hands.

"I heard that Colonel Mustang has made a good recovery and has been discharged to go home."

"Yes sir, he left the hospital about two days before me." I say. "The Elric brothers will be taking care of him until he is back to normal."

"I see, I see… And you will be taking care of this Sergeant Kain Fuery that has been turned into a chimera, I see?" he says, looking at some papers and then me.

"Yes sir. The Elrics believe they can fix him if they get a better view of Tucker's personal research into his chimera projects. They also feel that Sergeant Fuery is still there as a person but is emotionally and mentally mixed up with the dog, or whatever it is, that he was fused with. If he is with people that he knows rather than in a cage like an animal, they feel that it will keep what little of Fuery is there to digress and lose him for good. He was a good soldier, sir…"

"So I see from his file. Telecommunications… And Second Lieutenant Heymans Breda is on the mend as well?" he says, looking at Havoc.

Havoc scratches his neck. "Not really, sir. His mental state is fragile. He's afraid of dogs and he was made to watch when Fuery was turned. He is scarred but Tucker did it that way to make it harder to find him. He needed everyone to be incapacitated but Breda was made to escape; Tucker had to have someone find us to show the military the 'work' he had done. Breda is his trophy, so to speak and so… yeah…"

"I see…" he says with a nod. He stands up then and Havoc and I follow. "Thank you for coming in and speaking with me. Lieutenant Havoc, correct?"

"Yes sir?"

"You and Lieutenant Breda are very close friends, yes?"

"Yes sir."

"Whenever the doctors say that he can be released, I want him in your care. Like with this little Sergeant Fuery, the mental faculties of Lieutenant Breda seem like they may improve if with people he trusts. You are his friend of many years…"

"Yes sir!"

"You're both dismissed."

We get up and leave the room.

I look at Havoc and he sighs, grabbing for a cigarette.

"Back to your old habits?"

"I realize why I need them now… You want to come get Black Hayate and Fuery?"

"Yes that will be good. I'm sure Black Hayate has missed me."

"I dunno, Hawkeye, he's been living the high life just being a dog instead of some whatever it is that you try to make him."

I glare at him. "Did you de-train my dog?"

"No! No, never… he's just been happy."

I narrow my eyes at him. "I'm not a good owner?"

"No!"

I smirk at his uncomfortableness and we go to his house to go get Black Hayate and Fuery.


	12. Chapter 12

~*~ALPHONSE~*~

"Ed... Ed,,, Edward... No... No, don't... Please... Ed..."

I don't sleep since I'm in the armor and I don't have a body but the sound of a muffled voice from upstairs catches my attention as I look over some of Mr. Tucker's research. I stand up and head toward the Colonel's room. Brother is asleep on the couch, oblivious to the moaning upstairs.

"Edward... Ed... No... Stop... No... No! NO! _NO_!"

"Brother!" I yell.

"Huh?" he says, sitting up quickly.

"The Colonel..." I say, letting the screams from the Colonel answer for the rest.

Ed looks at the stairwell and then moves toward it to go up the stairs.

As we open the door, we find the Colonel tossing and turning in his bed. Ed goes over to him, turning on the light, and touches him on the arm to wake him.

"Colonel! Hey, Mustang, wake up!"

The Colonel's eyes fly open and he pulls away from Ed with a horrified yell, going to the opposite side of the bed and holding his hands out in front of him.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" he screams.

"Okay! Okay..." Ed assures. "I'm sorry..."

"D-don't... don't touch me..." he repeats, looking like he recognizes us now.

We watch him as he breathes heavily, staring at us with wide eyes still.

"We're sorry, Colonel. You were screaming and we were worried..." I say, trying to help him understand.

He nods, seeming to understand the situation, but his eyes are still full of fear. He looks at Brother and seems to visibly relax.

"Will you be alright, Colonel?" He nods and Brother looks at me. "Maybe we should let Hughes take care of you..."

The Colonel grabs his paper and pen and writes on it.

_I am __**not**__ crazy. My mind is fine... I don't need your pity on the subject._ he says with furrowed eyebrows to Ed.

"Aw, Colonel, don't get snarky. I'm just trying to help you out without causing more problems."

_Well, I don't need to feel like an idiot._

"No one said that you were." I say.

_You pretty much did. You all think I'm a freak!_

The Colonel's black eyes were brimming with tears and Ed flusters.

"H-Hey! What the hell?! Why are you crying?"

Instead of writing, he just points angrily at his swollen abdomen, which seems bigger than before. Ed nods.

"Oh... We're looking into that, okay?"

_I want in. Give me some of the files to look at._ he says, wiping his eyes and looking at us seriously.

"You should rest first-"

"No! No..." He swallows from the use of his voice and finishes his sentence on the page. _I can't sleep._

I look at Ed and he sighs.

"Are you sure you want to get into these files? They're pretty messed up."

The Colonel's face suddenly turns professional as he begins to write on the paper again.

_One of my subordinates has been transformed against his will on my account. I do not take lightly to people messing with my things. I owe it to Fuery, who put his life in my hands, to fix him. My life is not important right now._

Ed sighs again and rubs the back of his neck.

"Gah, why not? If ya feel that guilty about the whole thing..."

"Brother..." I say with a smile I know can't be seen.

~*~EDWARD~*~

We let Mustang have some files to look at as I go back down to collect my lost sleep. He looked really happy to get those files, as if the manila folders were a start to normality. I don't blame him for wanting something normal to happen after everything that he's been through...

"Do you think the Colonel will be alright?" I ask Al as he descends the stairs.

"No... He's really skittish for some reason but I think Mr. Hughes had said something about it when he brought him here..."

"Yeah, I forgot about the whole not touching thing. Hughes said he doesn't like flesh to flesh contact or something." I say, flouncing onto the couch.

"Mm... Brother, he was calling your name." I sit up and look at Al. "Before I woke you up he was screaming for you."

"For me? He doesn't even like me though. Why would he want to yell for me?"

"Maybe you can ask Lieutenant Hawkeye about it. She might know something from when they were captured..."

"Yeah; I think I'll go talk to her tomorrow. I wanted to check on Fuery anyway and make sure that thing were going well."

Al nods and goes back over to the files to look through them. I lay my head back on the couch and fall asleep again.

"I'm going to head over to Hawkeye's and check on Fuery. Al, keep an eye on the Colonel. Colonel, don't overuse my brother."

_You're going to see Hawkeye?_

"Yeah. I need to ask her some questions and stuff. Plus, I want to take a closer look at Fuery to get a better understanding of his makeup now that he's... mixed..." I say, faltering.

Mustang nods and goes back to looking at some files. I lean in to Al.

"Make sure he eats right, okay?"

"I will..."

I leave the apartment and head to Headquarters, where I'm sure Hawkeye is.

As I enter the floor that houses Mustang's office, I decide to go to the bathroom. I walk in and hear someone moaning. I look around and find Jean on the floor next to the sinks.

"Lieutenant!"

He turns to me and smiles weakly.

"Hey, Chief... I got a little hungry and... I didn't bring anything with me... so..."

I put his arm around my shoulders and take him to Mustang's office. As we walk in, Hawkeye looks up and seeing me with Havoc, she grabs his other arm.

"What happened?" she asks.

"I found him on the floor of the bathroom. He said something about eating."

"Oh. Sit him down and I'll go get him some food."

I nod and set him down at his desk. Havoc moans, leaning on his knees as a loud grumble comes from his stomach.

"Ugh... I feel horrible."

"What's wrong with you?"

"It's what Tucker did to me. I have to eat all the time or I'll die of starvation. He kicked my metabolism into overdrive and so if my stomach starts to growl and I haven't eaten something, I'll start to get malnutritioned and all sorts of good things." he says with a tired and painful smile.

Hawkeye comes back with some donuts and hands them to Havoc.

"This was all I could find."

"Good enough..."

He takes them and almost shoves them in his mouth as Hawkeye looks at me.

"What brings you here, Edward? We have lots of work to do, more since only half of the staff is able to be here."

"I needed to ask you about when you guys were captured... Did... Did the Colonel ever yell for me?"

Hawkeye looks at Havoc and she sighs, motioning me to go to the Colonel's office.

"I suggest you scrounge around for more food, Havoc."

"Aye, aye..." he says with a lazy salute.

Hawkeye closes the door and sits on the couch where I am.

"To answer your question, yes he did call for you."

"But why? I mean, he doesn't like me."

"Edward, you may not realize this but anyone under his direction, even those he says he doesn't like, is his property. Not in a slave-like sense, but he considers everything and everyone associated with him as his and his alone. The Colonel treats everyone with the same snarky and arrogant attitude, even provoking them so he can yell at them. But one thing Roy has that not many here have is genuine confidence in all of his men. Me, Havoc, Breda, Fuery, Falman... every one of us has his complete and utter trust in all matters and things. And you, Ed, have his trust too.

"That being said. Everyone that he trusts was with him in that lab. The only person he could rely on to come and save us, was you and Al. He called for you because he knew that you would find us. You alone would rescue us and save us from what Tucker has done. He called for you because you were the last hope he had.

"Roy doesn't give up very easily, nor does he put his pride in jeopardy... But those experiments and the things he had to see and go through... He had lost his resolve. He was unable to help us and was vulnerable to all sorts of attacks. After a long time of fighting and doing everything he could to protect us, and feeling that it was all in vain, he lost the will to fight. But he knew that you were out there. He puts a lot of confidence in you, Edward; more than you think he does. He knew you would find him and he held his hope in that."

I never knew that Mustang would have in me such high regard in his brain.

"Why me? Why not Hughes?"

"Hughes can only do so much and he is his friend, so he knew he'd be looking. But his faith in your loyalty, the one that you try to deny you have, helped Roy get through it all. Roy will probably kill me for telling you this, but you and Al are like sons to him. This loyalty is different from what he has in Hughes or me or his other subordinates; his loyalty in in you is like what a father has for his child."

I am taken aback by this. I would have never guess that Mustang -proud, arrogant, pain in the ass, Colonel Bastard- viewed me and Al as family. _Sons_ nonetheless.

"So you see, Ed, that's why it's best if you take care of him as long as you can. He trusts you."

I nod, feeling a little bad now that I wanted to dump him back on Hughes.

Hawkeye stands up and goes to the door.

"I have to get back to work."

"Is there anyway I can see Fuery?"

"Actually, I brought him to the office. He's in the closet where the Colonel usually takes naps."

I nod and find the closet. I open it up and Fuery lifts his head, his tail wagging.

"Ed-waaaard." he drawls.

"Hey... come into the light for me..."

I coax him out and he sits in front of me, his eyes squinted as he tries to look at me.

"Play?" he asks.

"No, not right now. They didn't hurt you did they?"

He shakes his head. "Peeet?"

I pat him on the head and his ears went back with happiness, his tail thumping away.

"Nice..." he said. "Edward nice... Scared..."

I look at him and he looks up into my eyes.

"Scared..."

"I know you are. I'll find a way to get you back. I promised the Colonel and I promise you."

"Trust..." he says, butting his head on my hand. "Trust, Edward."

I smile and pet him again. _I will save you from this cursed body. I will defeat the laws of alchemy._

* * *

A/N: hey i'm alive! so anyhow, a little bit of a roy pity party but i also needed a little bit of hormonal issues. he is preggy, yknow... with what, who knows...


	13. Chapter 13

i'm alive... i'm sorry that it's been so long since an update but i think this should satisfy some people. again, i apologize!

* * *

~*~ROY~*~

Reading the files of what happened to us at that shed makes me want vomit or at least kill someone. The horror and disgrace that that man had given to us as military agents of Amestris makes me want to take his face and blast it to flames. I go over Sergeant Fuery's file once more and the sheer accomplishment of what has been done to him gives me a headache. How in the hell do those boys think they will be able to fix him? They couldn't even fix Tucker's daughter and dog when he fused them together… If they couldn't save them, how do they think they are going to save Fuery?

I pinch the bridge of my nose, wondering where those boys think they have the capacity to do such an elaborate thing and set Fuery's file aside. I already know what's happened to him… For god sakes I was _there_ when it happened… I shake my head, not wanting to remember that horrible memory and sighing, looking around my room. I have never hated these four walls more than I do now. I have been kept here like some sort of prisoner in my own home because everyone is afraid that I can't walk. Well I have news for them: I'm Colonel Mustang, dammit! I don't need a wheelchair or the help of anyone!

In fact, I think I'll go downstairs and get myself some coffee. Hughes visited the other day and had to audacity to tell me that coffee was bad for people in my situation. I told him as kindly as I could where he could shove his information… or rather, I wrote it. All the screaming I did at that facility still has my voice really sore, but either way, I don't care what coffee does to me or not. I was experimented on without my consent and am left with… well, whatever this is. I am not pleased one little bit that I have to be treated like an invalid because of this stomach... with god knows _what_ is in there.

I swing my legs off the bed and put them on the floor. They look a little swollen. I wonder if I can get my feet into my military boots? I sigh and look around to make sure that I'm not being watched secretly and embarrassingly put one hand on my ever growing abdomen and gently push myself off the bed with the other. I teeter for a moment as I almost lose my balance from the new weight but get my bearings quickly. I begin to walk to the door and open it up.

I listen out for Ed and Al and smile when I hear neither rustling nor Edward's snoring. For a little kid, that boy could wake the dead with that snore of his. I head to the kitchen and begin to make coffee when I hear someone putting keys in the door. I curse but continue with what I am doing.

"Do you think the Colonel will like that though?" I hear ask.

"I dunno what that jerk likes. He'll eat what we give him." Ed says as he walks in with a bag of groceries.

"Brother, this isn't even our house. You can't just do that." The armor says as he walks in behind his brother.

Al looks over and gasps.

"Colonel!"

Ed looks up and then his eyes narrow.

"What the hell are you doing down here, Colonel? You know you're not supposed to be about without supervision."

I grab paper and write on it.

_I can only take looking at those walls for so long. Besides, you are both lousy at guard duty. I'm glad your status was bumped to a major and I didn't have to rely on you early on._

Edward grinds his teeth as I hear the coffee stop brewing. I go and pour myself a cup when I see them both looking at me.

"What?" I force myself to say.

"Um… Lieutenant Colonel Hughes said you shouldn't drink coffee if you're pregnant, sir." Al says in his polite voice.

I look at him and take a sip of my coffee defiantly. As I suspect, Ed understands immediately and smirks at me.

"Alright then, drink your coffee. You'll be sorry when it keeps you up or if something happens."

I shrug and continue drinking my brew as the boys walk in and begin to put the groceries up. Edward throws me a can and I catch it, looking.

"I knew you would still drink it so I got you some more."

I smile, feeling tears brim my eyes but I quickly get them to stop as I sip some coffee and start to write on my paper.

_I was looking over Fuery's records and I need to know what you have in store for him. What do you think you're going to do to get him back?_

Edward looks at his metal hand and opens and closes it.

"I have a theory but I don't know if it will work. I'll need some of Tucker's… _other_ things for me to see if this is even possible. I'm not going to mess with a life but I will try to reclaim it if I can. I have more faith that I will be able to do this now that I have Tucker's notes and I think there's a higher chance of being able to fix Fuery."

I nod, liking that he looks confident and not just spouting pretty words to me. I got my subordinate in this position and by God I'll get him out of it.

_Tell me what you need and I'll have Maes try to get clearance for it. If not, I'll get the clearance for you myself._

I could feel the smile coming from Alphonse.

"Thanks! Um… Colonel, we talked with Lieutenant Hawkeye and she wants to know if you're alright with this…"

"What?"

Edward massaged the back of his neck and then messed with the end of his braid.

"Um, she said that the military wants you to come in and give a full report about what happened. They also said that it would be in your best interests to be treated as an um… expectant mother."

I narrow my eyes at the boys but I can tell that they are not trying to pull a joke on me. They are serious about it.

_How am I supposed to give a full report if I can hardly talk?_

"That's what I said. Hawkeye said she'd see if she could get the Fuhrer to accept your papers if you wrote them right there in his office as testimony or if he wants you to speak. She said she'd come by."

I look at my stomach and pull the shirt that is sort of riding up over it.

"No."

"But Colonel-"

_I don't want her to come here… I'm not ready for that yet._

Ed and Al look at each other and Ed lifts his golden eyebrow.

"Are you _embarrassed_ for her to see you? I mean, Hughes comes and sees you all the time."

_Maes and I have been friends for a long time. He's seen me at my worst and has picked me up from the depths of despair. My lieutenant… I don't feel comfortable with it yet._

"You'll have to convince Ms. Riza of that." Alphonse says with a giggle. "If she wants to see you, she will."

I smirk. "I know."

* * *

The excursion to downstairs was good for me but it tired me out since I am carrying extra weight around. Ed helps me get upstairs again and I lay on the bed, moving the files over so that I can get some proper sleep. He turns the light out and I fall asleep almost immediately.

_I could feel the cold metal on my mostly naked body. My arms were tied up over my head and I could hear Tucker moving about the room. He has been keeping me sedated so that I don't struggle but today he decided that I needed to be awake for whatever he had in store._

_"Hello, Colonel. So nice of you to join me here. I'm sorry that it had to be your crew but I need specimens for the new experiments I'm working on."_

_I looked around at the shabby place that I was at and Tucker smiled, holding out his hands to the area._

_"Isn't it great? It's just like the lab of a mad scientist! I have decided on what I want to do to each and everyone one of you but I haven't decided who I should match the experiments up with… What would you choose, Colonel?"_

_I didn't care but I wanted the worst thing done to me. It was my fault that my men were here and there was no reason why they should suffer the worst of what this crazy man was going to do. I would take the worst of the punishments._

_"Don't hurt them… They haven't done anything. Please, just use me."_

_Tucker laughed a mocking laugh. "Wouldn't you like that, Colonel? I'm sorry but one experiment for one person. I can't let them think they are missing out on the fun, now can I?"_

_"Then… then do the worst to me. I'm sure you have one that is worse than the others."_

_Tucker smiled a wicked grin._

_"True. But my true passion is chimeras, of course. I don't want you to be one but I **do** have something in store for you –since you're going to be the hero and all- and I think that besides turning into a chimera, this could be the worst."_

_He walked over to a shelf where there was a lot of different liquids of different colors and pulled out a syringe. He looked around and finally found the bottle he was looking for, sticking the needle in and sucking up some of the blue contents. He only filled the syringe half full when he went to another table and picked up a flat dish. He then filled the syringe with whatever was in it and turned to me, eyes flashing evilly in the dim light of the shed._

_"I think you're going to find this very interesting."_

_He walked toward me and although I knew I could go nowhere, I tried to pull away._

_"Don't touch me. Don't touch me! **DON'T TOUCH ME**!"/i_


End file.
